Memento and Narrative

"More a puzzle than a meaningful story, it reminds me of how Edmund Wilson compared reading a mystery to eagerly unpacking a box of excelsior, only to find a few rusty nails at the bottom."-  Jonathon Rosenbaum

The narrative structure of Memento (Christopher Nolan) is arguably what gathers the most praise and interest for the movie due to its unconventional and confusing storyline but the complexity raises the question, is it too complex? Or even pretentious in its storytelling methods?

From the offset, the film proposes itself as a mystery waiting to be solved with the opening scene showing, in reverse, the main character Leonard shooting another man in the back of the head, who we later find out through many more appearances throughout the film, was Teddy. This shocking opening sets the tone for the rest of the film and leaves the audience with any questions straight away which don't get answered until the end of the film and even then, the ending is ambiguous enough to still leave mystery.

In relation to the quote above, I do party agree that at times, the film boarders on the point of overly complex which can ruin the viewing experience, especially if the audience if having to lose concentration on certain scenes in order to work out the scene before it. it causes the viewing experience to be more of a chore than anything else and can often turn the audience off.
However I do believe that the payoff at the end of the film makes all of the concentration worth it. The ambiguity leaves the audience satisfied as no definite answer is specified meaning that the audience can continue to speculate the film even when its over rather than leaving anyone disappointed.

So I do believe that even though the film does tend to trip over itself in terms of complexity throughout, the full cricle ending allows the film to still have dignity and appeal.