Christopher Nolan's "Memento" Analysis
📌 The video highly recommends Christopher Nolan's film "Memento" (released in 2006) as a masterpiece that requires multiple viewings to fully comprehend its complex narrative structure.
🧠 The film features two distinct sequences: black-and-white scenes (chronological) and color scenes (reverse chronological), which interweave, challenging the viewer's perception of events.
🎬 The review positions "Memento" as excellent preparation for Nolan's later works, like *Tenet*, urging viewers to step outside mainstream cinema like Marvel films.

Plot Structure and Amnesia
🤕 The protagonist, Leonard Shelby (Lenny), suffers from anterograde amnesia (short-term memory loss) following an attack that killed his wife, leaving him unable to form new memories.
📝 Leonard relies on Polaroid photos and tattoos to track down the man he believes murdered his wife, referred to as "John G" or "James G."
🔄 The black-and-white sequences show Leonard recalling the story of Sammy Jankis, another amnesiac who accidentally caused his diabetic wife’s death via repeated insulin injections, a cautionary tale for Leonard.

Deception and Shifting Alliances
🕵️ In the black-and-white timeline, Leonard, guided by Teddy (an undercover officer), kills Jimmy Grantz (a drug dealer and Natalie's boyfriend), believing him to be John G.
🤯 Teddy reveals that Leonard actually killed the *real* John G a year prior, and that Sammy Jankis’s story was largely Leonard’s own experience projected onto another man.
📸 After killing Jimmy, Leonard tattoos Teddy's license plate number and writes "Don't trust his lies" on Teddy's photo, intending to make Teddy his next target.

Reverse Chronology and Manipulation
💔 The color sequences move backward, showing Leonard meeting Natalie (Jimmy's girlfriend) and being manipulated by her into killing Teddy, whom she frames as the John G Leonard seeks.
🛑 The color timeline culminates in Leonard killing Teddy in the structure where the film’s opening scene (the reversed color scene) takes place, suggesting Leonard consciously chooses to manipulate his own memory system for revenge.
🤔 Nolan masterfully uses the structure to make the audience question what has *already* happened, rather than what *will* happen next, creating an unpredictable ending despite showing the end first.

Key Points & Insights
➡️ The core complexity lies in the interplay between the black-and-white scenes (Leonard's narration/setup) and the color scenes (reverse chronology leading to the apparent conclusion).
➡️ Teddy is revealed to be John Edwards Gammell, the second assailant, and Leonard has already executed his revenge but set himself up to repeat the cycle.
➡️ The film leaves the audience ambiguous about the reality of Leonard's wife's death (whether it was assault or self-inflicted overdose via manipulation, mirroring the Sammy Jankis story).

📸 Video summarized with SummaryTube.com on Oct 18, 2025, 14:19 UTC