Ah, didn't realize that the special edition was out already.

I bought the original version the day it was available. I am going to take a pass on the SE. I hate SEs. I should say, I hate SEs that come out after I bought the original. (see: Slap Shot, Highlander, etc.)

I did just join the DVD club for the second time last night. 4 discs at $0.49, 2 at $9.95 and then 2 at what will be $19.99. I think I went with Training Day, Tron, X-Men, Die Hard, Monty Python & the Holy Grail and Rounders. I'll probably go for Shawshank and the Mask to finish out the quota as they are in the $19.99 slot.

Addendum to my reply to loafergirl:

Rather than him "blocking out" the "I'VE DONE IT" tattoo, it seems more likely (and more in fitting with the other lengths he's gone to to erase his past) that while he was going through his medical files, making the appropriate deletions, he also had the tattoo removed.

If indeed that's the case, then it pretty much solidifies what the real focus of the movie is about: that a life with nothing to work for is hardly a life at all.

There's going to be ANOTHER special edition? You mean, I just bought the special edition, and now am going to have to buy ANOTHER one?

What the HELL??

Not only that, but the commentary for the upcoming special edition DVD will branch and have the directory stating different conclusions about it depending on how you're viewing it or whatnot. That, to me, is asinine, because if he has any contradictory statements in there then his movie is no more a mystery than that miserable piece of crap "Clue" was -- where the "facts" fit multiple theories and each are just as valid.

Course, he could possibly not make any colliding statements. In which case, nevermind the above.

So, loaferperson. Your contention is that the timeline goes something like this:

1. Rape/assault.
2. Lenny tracks down and kills the guy who did it.
3. Lenny then procedes to pump his wife full of insulin.
4. Lenny is sent to a mental ward.
5. Lenny is released, and then doctors (ha!) his own file to prevent him from remembering what was really up.
6. Lenny constructs Sammy Jankis story to
6a. ...suppress his own past.
6b. ...remind him of his own condition.

Is that close?

And PTX: Your contention is something similar to the above, with the possible exception of #2 happening when it did? The only reason #2 would show up at that particular point in the list is just because of the "I'VE DONE IT" tattoo mentioned by loaferhuman. Whether that scene was a flashback to an actual event, or just a glimpse into Lenny's dreamstate, is perhaps uncertain.

Also, I think there's no question that Teddy is the guy on the phone, since Teddy later describes himself to Lenny: "A corrupt cop trying to make a score, calling you, slipping notes under your door to creep you out" (etc, etc.)

In any case, Memento sure leaves a lot of the story out for you to try to figure out and come to your own conclusions, doesn't it?

That and in a flashback/dream sequence the space he left for the tattoo that says he has killed whatshisname has the tattoo filled in, but he never perceives it, which is why I think whatshername looks at him funny when she points to that spot which presumably she can see, and asks "what's this one for?".

(sorry it's been a couple months since I watched it last, it was definately best in the theater though)

-LG

Teddy is telling the truth. The story of Sammy Jankis is Leonard's own story. Leonard has fooled himself into believing otherwise to repress his guilt/shame/whatever.

Anteriograde amnesiacs can't form new memories [i] in a conventional manner[/i]. But Leonard is able to remember that he can't remember. He knows to take notes, and other things. It's not just the written notes and tattooed reminders -- how does he manage to remember to write his notes down?

There are different types of memory -- in addition to factual memories (which Leonard can't make more of) there's spatial, and (more importantly here) what's often called "muscle memory," a physical memory based on stimulus/response.

They bring it up when Sammy is being tested with the blocks and shapes that shock him -- in theory he should remember the shapes that give a pain stimulus after a while. They just didn't keep after it long enough in the story.

With the constant presence of the tattoos to ingrain facts into him, Leonard is able to remember that "John G." raped and murdered his wife -- he's seen the reversed tattoo in the mirror so many times that it's become a [i]motor reflex[/i].

Same thing with the story of Sammy Jankis. Leonard told himself the story through notes, etc., over and over. Then he put a tattoo in a particular place on his wrist, where he'd see it every time that he washed his hands or checked a watch. He's linked the motor response of his wrist to the memory, with the tattoo to help ingrain it.

If you watch closely, there's a sound effect every time Leonard checks his wrist and triggers his own false memory. Also: in the black and white flashback where Sammy is institutionalized, watch carefully to see a flash of Leonard sitting there in Sammy's place after someone passes. He's vestigially aware of the truth in flashes, but suppresses it.

Apparently, anteriograde amnesiacs really [i]do[/i] use the biological aspects of ingrained motor response and force-feedback to get around the psychological effects of memory loss. It's how they get by. Or so I hear.

I was more inclined to believe that Teddy was telling the truth and that the movie was about the level of self-denial a person (albeit fictional) can put himself through (to the effect of choosing to murder someone so that his fragile existence of wanting revenge and justice isn't broken). [although I doubt that sentence made much sense]

The main thing that confuses me about that, though, is that if it is Teddy that the guy was talking to on the phone throughout the movie, it makes the claim that Teddy was scoping the guy out more credible. For some reason, when I saw the movie, I had the impression that Leonard was talking to the guy that Teddy had him kill in those scenes, but I've been told that's not the case.

Anyone like Memento? Let's talk some Memento!

Like, I just bought it today, and watched it for the second time -- what a nice movie! Always something to chew on, always finding/seeing/thinking new things as you go over it and over it... all this in under two hours!

But I'm a bit confused still about this whole "Sammy Jankis" story. I've spent the last 30 minutes or so on deja.com reading a ton of amateur analysis, which has given me a lot of different interpretations, but none of which are wholly satisfying. I think if the movie fails in any way, it's in this area, since I'm beginning to think that there [i]are[/i] no satisfying interpretations, and thus the movie, which is so confident and rock-solid in all of its many intricacies, has misstepped in this one relatively straightforward facet.

But I'm not willing to give up yet. Anyone? Let's start with this question:

[b]Is Teddy correct, in that Sammy's story is really Leonard's story?[/b]

Obviously, the movie makes us want to believe that, though it seems contradictory with other stuff, like:

[b]If that's true, then how come Leonard doesn't remember his wife being a diabetic?[/b]

The best explanation for this interpretation (written by a guy at 7 AM eastern time on 9/11/01 -- spooky, huh?) is that in addition to (or perhaps instead of) Leonard's biological problem (the antereograde amnesia), he's also undergone a major psychological blow, including tons of denial and stuff like that.

That may be true, but I find that somewhat unsatisfying, given that his [i]psychological[/i] state of mind has really not been the focus for the rest of the movie. It's set up to be a cool, perverse mindgame, solely based on Leonard's [i]biological[/i] state -- and now we're supposed to also deal with mental problems as well? It seems to dilute the "purity" of the rest of the movie's path.

One alternative is that Teddy is just full of shit, but then there's little point to that entire scene.

It's about this point that I start getting a headache and give up.

But let's talk Memento!!