Memento (35mm)

In anticipation of the upcoming OPPENHEIMER, we propose Christopher Nolan’s first certifiable mind-twisting crowdpleaser, wherein Guy Pearce stars as a man who suffers from anterograde amnesia and is searching for the men who attacked him and raped and killed his wife, Catherine. The film’s non-linear narrative is presented as two different sequences of scenes interspersed during the film as it follows Leonard Shelby, who employs an elaborate system of Polaroid photographs, handwritten notes, and tattoos to track information he won’t remember.

Also starring Carrie-Anne Moss, Jorja Fox, and Joe Pantoliano, this neo-noir mystery psychological thriller is Christopher Nolan’s second feature film and breakthrough that catapulted the writer and director to Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling. The United States Library of Congress deemed MEMENTO “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2017.

This screening of Memento is co-presented by McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, in conjunction with their exhibition What are words worth?. Leonard’s unusual relationship to language extends the exhibition’s themes of the power of words to communicate specific information but also act as a symbol for complex emotional experiences.