Memento

Fan - Fucking- Tastic. I cannot properly express my glee at the quality of this film, and I cannot fully elocute how impressed I was with the progression of the film. We-the-viewers were transported inside of the  mind of the protagonist more deeply than in almost any other film that I can think of. The single, closest comparison that I can come up with, both for degree of translocation of the viewer and for absolutely stunning plot twists is Shutter Island, and it was absolutely blown away by the complexity of the sheer mind fuck that was Memento. 

Even with the inherent confusion that goes with such an unusual format as Memento was made in, that complexity of editing and construction was what absolutely made the film. The interplay of reversed scenes playing in contrast to the usual order gave a great deal more credence to the scenes playing in forward chronological order. 

I admit, at the time I was watching it, I was somewhat annoyed by the element of repetition that snuck in as the time codes matched back up in the course of the film and repeated a moment here or there. But after a while to reflect upon it, without those moments of repetition, it would have been much more difficult to match the time codes together, and you would have had something closer to an impressionist film that a cohesive story. 

The plot twist that the end brought was absolutely fantastic, coming out of left field like a Semi flattening a Smart Car. The film maker had been leading up to it a bit, and giving the clues necessary for the viewer to tie together and begin to recognize key plot elements that are being noted by the other characters of the film that aren't explicitly noted to the audience. An idea of what will happen, has happened, and is actually going on is conferred upon the audience, but even the hints don't quite reveal all they have in store for you. 

I absolutely loved it. I havent read the short story that it was based off of yet, but I will. It leaves me curious to see how similar it is to the precursor that inspired it, as I suspect it inspired Shutter Island in some way, no mater how small.