After glancing through Katz's review, I knew this was a movie I would have to see. I figured it was some new release I had just not heard about, since I haven't been watching many ads lately. But a standard scan revealed that it was playing at none of the nearby multiplexes; not even the big old AMC 24! Curses.

I broadened my search, and found that my options were to either go to the Mayan in downtown Denver, or the United Artist in Boulder, where they have only four screens, yet somehow managed to spare one for this film. I jumped on the chance, and caught the 4 o'clock matinee.

This film is indeed a mind bender.

As other reviews have stated, it's about a guy who is on a quest to solve the mystery of who killed his wife, and take his vengeance. There's just one catch (which is really the central point that makes the movie interesting): With every moment that goes by, he cannot remember anything that happened before it. He doesn't know who is his friend, and who is his enemy. He scrambles to write cryptic little notes to himself about people he's met or places he's been. He snaps Polaroids of faces, then frantically digs them out of his pocket later on when he needs to know who somebody is. His body is covered with tatoos to remind him of the clues he considers most important. But one thing he always knows: He has his mission, and that mission is to find the killer.

What is the best way to effectively convey the plight of a man who has perpetual memory loss to an audience sitting in a theater? Simple. Let the viewers have the same amount of information about his past that he does: Zero. How? By telling the film in reverse order. Chronologically, the first shot in the film is the last. As soon as one scene comes to an end, to the point where it runs into the scene just shown, the action is abruptly interrupted, and we jump back in time to whatever occured before the scene began. Since this film's genre could easily be categorized as a mystery, that makes for one hell of a way to try to put together clues.

Even as one is trying to piece together exactly what just happened, and make sense of it in the context of everything else that happened later on, the camera goes another step back in time to pile on more. Each scene begins with little or no context as to why things are the way they are. We're just thrust into it. Repeatedly. For a good two hours. The context for each scene has to be mentally constructed rhetrospectively. In order to understand what's going on, the brain has to be doing double duty constantly. The audience is required to make extra heavy use of their own short term memory, or get lost very quickly. A tad ironic, don't you think? (Not exactly like rain on your wedding day, though.)

By the time end credits rolled, my brain was exhausted. It's disconcerting too, if you really allow yourself to get pulled into the reality of what this pathetic character (I mean that sympathetically) is experiencing. He needs to believe he is on the right trail. He explicitly stresses the importance of using only "facts" to hunt down the guilty party. But what are his facts? A few scraps of paper, the writing on his body, and whatever items he happens hold at each moment as he wakes up from oblivion. Yes. Disconcerting.

Acting in the film was obviouly excellent. Two of the Matrix alumni are prominent members of the cast, which I find very cool. The film does have a sort of semi-indie feel, although I think it probably had a decent production budget. But really, budget is a small factor when it comes to cinema. It's what they do with it that matters.

Final word: I would strongly recommend this film to anyone who likes something unique and out of the ordinary. Bring your thinking cap.