Nolan's Best Leading Man From 94%-Rated Sci-Fi Gem Drops a Bombshell: ‘I Hate What I Did’

Christopher Nolan is a master of intricate plot and ambiguous interpretations, but even compared to his Inception and The Dark Knight, Memento stands out for its plot twist after which the viewer understands that the main character is not as innocent and nobly angry as he seems at the beginning.

The final scenes turn the detective story on its head and demonstrate a unique trick, after which the entire original meaning crumbles to dust and the movie takes on a completely different plot.

Memento's Leonard Shelby Is One of Guy Pearce's Best Roles

Guy Pearce plays Leonard, a man searching for his wife's killer. Everything would be fine, but Pearce's character suffers from short-term memory loss syndrome, which means he cannot remember anything that happened 15-20 minutes ago.

Each time, he looks at his own Easter eggs that he has left on his own body in the form of tattoos. Each time, he seems to be reborn, representing the interests of two people at once – the one who left the message on the body and the one who reads it.

The lead role in Memento is still considered to be one of the best in Pearce's career, if not the best. The actor himself, however, disagrees.

Guy Pearce Is Very Disappointed With His Performance in Memento

In a recent interview with The Times, Guy Pearce admitted that he was not at all happy with his performance in Christopher Nolan's film:

“I watched Memento the other day and I'm still depressed. [...] I realized I hate what I did. [...] I know why I didn't work with Chris again – it's because I'm no good in Memento.”

However, it is simply impossible to agree with the actor. Pearce brilliantly embodied a rather complex plot concept – his Leonard perfectly combined steely determination and endless vulnerability caused by his illness.

Christopher Nolan Still Hasn't Been Able to Top His Breakthrough Film

Memento is the movie that launched Nolan's long and still very successful career. The events of the film unfold backwards – the plot starts with the finale and ends with the introduction, so the main twist here is not how the story ends, but how it began.

This in itself is a very clever dramatic twist, and despite all of Nolan's later tricks, it is still the most effective one in his filmography.

While Memento works brilliantly as a detective story, it also transports the viewer to a completely different level of storytelling – one where the audience, like the main character, has to make an effort to understand what is happening and, most importantly, in what order.

And while we like where Nolan has gone creatively since Memento, he still hasn't surpassed his breakthrough film. Well, he still has a long way to go.