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Memento, Thu October 26
2006, 7:00 & 9:30

"Batman Begins" director Christopher Nolan's acclaimed masterpiece

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Memento shows at IFS on Thu October 26, 2006, 7:00 & 9:30

Memento
"Batman Begins" director Christopher Nolan's acclaimed masterpiece
Thu October 26
2006, 7:00 & 9:30

Mushrooms won't help when it comes to "Memento." This mesmerizing mind-bender - it's really a mind fuck as well as a new classic among thrillers - won the screenwriting award for its British writer and director, Christopher Nolan, 29, who based the script on a short story by his brother, Jonathan.

The movie features a tour-de-force performance from Australian actor Guy Pearce - he was the tight-assed cop in "L.A. Confidential" - as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance investigator who is out to find the man who killed his wife. Sound conventional? Think again. From the start - and cheers here to Wally Pfister's camerawork and Dody Dorn's editing - this jolting jigsaw puzzle of a movie grabs you and won't let go. The stunning opener involves a murder and a Polaroid of the body. Then Nolan runs everything backward. The photo slips back into the camera, a bullet is sucked back into a gun barrel, and Leonard starts living in reverse. Don't leave your seat for popcorn or a pee or you'll miss a crucial plot point.

And pay no attention to what Leonard says. A head injury sustained while he was trying to protect his wife has left him with short-term memory loss. As he tells Burt (the sly, funny Mark Boone Junior), a clerk at the seedy L.A. motel where Leonard holes up, "I know who I am, I know all about myself. It's just, since my injury, I can't make new memories. Everything fades. If we talk for too long, I'll forget how we started. . . ."

To stay focused, the understandably paranoid Leonard takes pictures, writes notes to himself and even tattoos messages on his body, such as "John G. raped and murdered your wife." Strangers are a real hazard for this guy. The sexy bartender, Natalie ("Matrix" babe Carrie-Anne Moss is pure femme fatale), takes him to bed but screws more with his psyche. The snarky undercover cop, Teddy (Joe Pantoliano steals every scene he's in), offers help, but his motives seem suspect. And what's with those flashbacks in which Leonard denies the insurance claim of Sammy Jankis (Stephen Tobolowsky), whose memory loss now mirrors his own? "Memento" is a movie that demands we trust no one. In only his second film, after 1999's "Following," Nolan stages scenes of dizzying suspense that resonate with raw emotion. His reverse action isn't a trick - it's a way to put us inside Leonard's head. Like the best filmmakers at Sundance 2001, Nolan leaps into the wild blue and dares us to leap with him. Go for it. (P. Travers, Rolling Stone)

To see a trailer and read a review, visit InternationalFilmSeries.com.

Tickets

10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission. $7 w/UCB student ID, $7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.

Parking

Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.

RTD Bus

Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus

International Film Series

(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.

First Person Cinema

(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.

C.U. Film Program

(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil Grillo.

Celebrating Stan

Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.

C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.

Thank you, sponsors!
Boulder International Film Festival
Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts

Looking for a gift for a friend?
Buy a Frequent Patron Punch Card for $60 at any IFS show. With the punch card you can see ten films (a value of $90).

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