No/wait.It 'll come to me A revenge thriller about a man with amnesia rings all the right bells man who raped and mur- dered his wife, Leonard FILM OF suffers from short-term mem- ory loss. He can recall his life THE WEEK up to the murder, but there- after he can't remember any- Pliilip French thing for more than a few minutes at best, though he's painfully aware of his condi- Memento (113 mins, 15) Directed of the year's most exciting tion. As he pursues the killer by Christopher Nolan; starring Guy pictures, Memento, which is, he's reducedt o makingnotes, Pearce, Carrie-Anne Wloss, Joe Pan- like Point Blank, a revenge annotating Polaroid pictures, toliano, Stephen Tobolowsky thriller set in southern Cali- having essential information fornia that repays with inter- tattooed on his body either by THIRTY-THREE years ago, est its debts to Alain Resnais. a professional in a tattoo par- after making his cinematic Also like Point Blank, its lour or with his own needle. debut with a small-scale progress is circular, ending He also has to depend on oth- Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss in Memento, one of the most exciting films of the year. black-and-white movie in where it begins. ers, all unreliable - the devi- Britain, John Boorman went The movie (based on a ous desk clerk at a seedy in reconstructing a chrono- ace insurance investigator in by Stephen Tobolowsky), Leonard believe that he's the to the States and became a story by the director's motel, attractive barmaid logical narrative. The San Francisco, the same pro- was incapacitated by short- victim of poetic justice. world figure overnight direct- brother, Jonathan Nolan), Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss), scratches on Shelby's cheek - fession Edward G. Robinson term memory loss after an The photography, editing ing Lee Marvin in Point usesa favouritep lot device of who mayb e using himfor her where did they come from? followed in Double Indem- accident. In order to frustrate and production design are of Blank, a very European treat- postwar Freudian film noir, own ends, the slimy, ubiqui- The bruises on Natalie's face nity. The job requires a com- his insurance claim, Leonard the first rank, belying the ment of an archetypal Amer- the hero suffering from tous Teddy (Joe Pantoliano), The film is - who gave them to her and bination of intuition and rati- had to prove either that film's modest budget, and the ican subject. The 29-year-old amnesia. Hitchcock's Spell- who claims to be a solicitous of the first when? As Leonard goes ocination, both underpinned Sammy was bluffing or that performances have a strange Christopher Nolan has done bound is perhaps the most cop but might well be a crook. • about his desperate quest by the necessity to be eter- his condition was psycholog- intensity. Guy Pearce brings something similar. Last year celebrated example. But Like Followingt,h e story is rank/and the around Los Angeles, we ques- nally mistrustful. On ical, not physical. The tragic total conviction to Leonard, he made an auspicious debut Leonard Shelby (Guy told out of sequence, with tion our own perception of Leonard's left hand is tat- destruction of Sammy and making an everyman of this with the zero-budget Follow- Pearce), the protagonist of some scenes in monochrome, acting has the world. tooed the admonition his wife, as narrated by bewildered questor. 'If you ing, shot in black-and-white Memento, suffers from a and at a hectic rate. This gets a strange There is another layer to 'Remember Sammy Jankis'. Leonard, is aparallel story in get your revenge, you're not on London streets. He has special form of amnesia. Due us involved by forcing us to the story that relates to Sammy, a certified public a different register, which un- going to be able to remember now written and directed one to a blow received from the exercise our own memories intensity' Leonard's earlier life as an accountant (movinglyp layed folds in sequence and makes it,' Natalie tells him. It has some suspense,a touch of Hitch - but the less said the better tainly between both, waving as fresh as ever. Beginning threatening Tony Curtis and A Night at the Opera) which YourE ars, and Curtis's com- a two-way bet in her hand. and ending with bloody mas- Jack Lemmon; when they are directly commented on - ment about kissing Marilyn OTHER FILMS A pleasant minor surprise sacres, it's perfectly con- escape in drag, they're flee- of Tony Curtis's wild imper- Monroe is now in reference Phili from France, Drdle de Feiix, structed in three acts and is ing from ruthless mobsters, sonation of Cary Grant, books. Monroe gives her p French >, ., co-directed by Onvier Ducas- one of the three master- not trying to get in touch i Lemmon remarks: 'Where greatest comic performance tel and Jacques Martineau, is pieces produced by Wilder' ! s with their feminine sides. did you get that phoney , here (though in Bus Stopa nd What Lies Beneath (130 mins, 15) ;[Offerings by American film- a sweet-natured road movie partnership 1 with I. A.L. Dia- The picture's, full of classic, accent? No one talks like The Misfits she!smore obvi- Directed by Robert Zemeckis; makers. Both are triumphal- tracing a hitchhiking jour- mond (the other two are The much quoted lines and fea- that.' ously poignant). starring Harrison Ford, Michelle ist tales of young girls over- ney from Dieppe to Mar- Apartment and The Fortune tures smart, postmodern The Florida beach scene is Did I say, by the way, that Pfeiffer coming adversity to fulfil seilles undertaken by the Cookie). homages to other pictures ' itself the subject of a homage it's funny? I can't think of Bring It On (105 mins, 15) their ambitions. handsome, half-Algerian There is real danger (Scarface, The PublicE nemy, in Stephen Frears's Prick Up anythingf unnier. Directed by Peyton Reed; starring In the mildly amusing, gay, Felix (Sami Bouajila), Kirsten Dunst /a«a:-satirical Bring It On, after his mother's death. Coyote Ugly (100 mins, 12) Kirsten Dunst is elected cap- His objective is to contact Directed by David McNally; star- tain of her San Diego high- the father he's never met, ring Piper Perabo, John Goodman, school cheerleading team and along the attractive Adam Garcia and guides them to the Some Like It Hot. route through Chartres and The Little Vampire (95 mins U) ! , national finals organised by along the Rhone, he meets a Directed by Uli Edel; starring the UCA (Universal Cheer- succession of kindly folk, Jonathan Lipnicki, Richard E-. leaders Association) at Day- though in Rouen he wit- Grant,Alice Krige, JohnWood tona, Florida. Competitive nesses a racial murder that Nasty Neighbours (88 mins, 15) cheerleading is a cut above he fails to report. Directed by Debbie Isitt;s tarring professional arm-wrestling, It's sentimental, but not RickyTomlinson, Phil Daniels but a little of it goes a long treacly and a nice mixture of Dr8le de Felix (97 mins, 15) way. the obvious, and the surpris- ^^^^Hf ^^^^^^^H^^yESSS Directed by Olivier Ducastel and Piper Perabo, the exoti- ing. The chief attraction is Jacques Martineau; starring Sami cally named star of Coyote his encounter with an elderly Bouajila, Patachou, Ariane Ugly, plays a working-class widow in the Auvergne, Ascaride New Jersey girl who moves played by the great cabaret Said (118 mins, nc) Directed by to a Manhattan tenement to singer, Patachou, looking Pier Paolo Pasolini;s tarring Paolo pursue a career as a pop splendid and full of character Bonacelli, Giorgio Cataldi composer, gets a job as bar- at the age of 82. Some Like It Hot (121 mins, U) maid at the eponymous Finally, two major re- Directed by Billy Wilder;s tarring raunchy saloon, has an affair issues, both courtesy of the Marilyn Monroe,Tony Curtis, Jack with a handsome Australian, What Lies Beneath. ^^^^^^^^^ H^^^^^^^ HV / British Film Institute. ^H^&F iwB^^^^^^^^ F-^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ H^^V * Lemmon overcomes her stage fright Pasolini's final film, Said, is ^^^^^^^^^^^ H and becomes a star. mortgage payments, insensi- an intentionally disgusting THERE'S A FAMOUS story It's trashy, sentimental tive to his wife's impending movie of considerable of an usherette at a Paris stuff that is not redeemed by breakdown, insulted by his integrity and tedium, updat- cinema showing a patron to the presence of John Good- pregnant daughter, he has ing Sade's The 120 Days of his seat for a screening of man as her father , a toll- fantasies of emigrating to Sodom to the dying days of Ten Little Niggers.W hen he booth attendant on the Australia and channels all Italian fascism. I can see no fails to deliver the expected Jersey Turnpike. Awash i his frustrations into a reason for it not to receive an tip, she leans over and with booze, which is served steadily escalating battle '18' certificate from the hisses: "The judge did it', and consumed in unfeasible with an unpleasant, well-off BBFC, but I gained more ^^^^^^^ I^^^^^^^^^^^^ B '!jrffii iS? ^^^ K^ ^I^^ H^^^^ EHf ^^Kki ^l <^I^^^* Kj l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ B^ « ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 1 then stalks off. Giving away ways, the picture only young couple who move in from reading Gary Indiana's ^^^^^ I^H^b m^^^^ m^^ *B£Hipifjtfa £ui?%>.^^^^ HflY ' K W surprises and plot details of attracts a '12' certificate. Had next door. Homicidal mad- new monograph in the BFI i^^^^^^^^^ H** ^^^^^^^^^^^^ h films is the chief subject of someone passed a joint, it ness beckons.