Verbatima

Okay, it was really annoying at the beginning of every scene not to know what the deuce is going on. I don't see it as a fault in the movie and realize that the director did it on purpose, in order to put the viewer in Leonard's shoes -- disoriented, overwhelmed, desperately clawing at clues which may be deceptive. I think it was a brilliant, unique, and innovative way to tell the story.

However, I think that certain "seeds" of doubt were planted into the story, unresolved questions which are just barely suggested, but not developed as much as one would want to. Here are some issues:

-- Who did kill Leonard's wife? I understand that the lack of an answer is explained by Leonard's unique disorder, but her death remains too shrouded in mystery, I think.

-- Leonard claims to have remembered everything up until his injury. But is it really true? Could have his previous life have been invented, the old memories a product of denial and pained consciousness? For one, I was surprised that the movie did not show a weepy and idealized picture of Leonard's relationship with his wife (a la "The Crow"); the flashbacks show that Leonard probably had a problematic, maybe even troubled marriage. The scenes almost invariably show him in conflict with the woman whose death he wants to avenge. Was Leonard's wife really murdered by an unknown villain (or villains), or did he have something to do with her disappearance from his life?

-- There is more than a fortuitous insistence on the fact that short-term memory loss may be psychological, not physical, in nature. Should one take for granted the fact that Leonard's condition was brought on by a physical trauma? Or could it have been induced by an extremely guilty and troubled mind?

-- In light of that, how exactly was Leonard's wife gone? Was she murdered? Did she commit suicide or simply leave Leonard, causing him to suffer a catastrophic mental breakdown?

Perhaps I am reading into it. Perhaps not.

I was actually pleasantly surprised to hear almost a direct quote from Thackeray's "Vanity Fair": "Mother is the name of God on the lips of children." It is all the more surprising to see this bit of sophistication in a rather flat, if picturesque, movie, adapted from the comics. It was though, a bit dumbed down to: "Mother is the name of God on the lips of children -- all children." Thackeray's words went something like this: "Mother is the name of God on the lips of children; and here was one that was worshiping a stone!"

Julia Roberts -- one of the most beautiful women in the world?? Geez, humans must be an ugly race indeed. Untalented, too. I am so tired of Julia Roberts and her perpetually laughing face; her big teeth; and her nasty attitude. She always plays the same way, from movie to movie -- a jumpy, wound-up, hyperactive, attention-deficit-disorder-afflicted, amphetamine junkie. Somebody please give her a course in acting -- or get her out of my face.