Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Carrie-Anne Moss, Mark Boone Junior
The black and white segment is in the past.And Teddy(Joe Pantoliano) tricks Leonard(Guy Pearce)into thinking that Natalie(Carrie Ann-Moss)'s boyfriend Jimmy Grant(Larry Holden)is Leonard'Wife's killer.Teddy leads Lenny to the abandoned place at the start of the film.Jimmy comes to the place and Lenny tells him to remove his shirt and jeans.And Lenny tries to kill Jimmy,but he tells Lenny that he can have the drug money in his car's trunk.Though,he kills Jimmy by strangling him.He takes his clothes and his picture and drags Jimmy's body down stairs,but Jimmy says a dying word "Sammy".Then, he sees Teddy outside and pretends he lost his memories and brings Teddy inside hits him on the head with an object.He tells Teddy why Jimmy knows Sammy and Teddy tells him that he always says about Sammy.And he tells Lenny that his wife actually survived the rape and died the same way that Sammy's wife died,the insulin overdose by Lenny accidentally killing her.And Teddy was hired to get the real killer.Teddy claims that the real killer is just a local with no connections and they had killed him years ago.And Teddy says that he's John G,but not the killer.But Lenny forgot about the entire thing and started making puzzles that are impossible to solve and Teddy took the picture of him getting the John G killed his wife tattoo.Then Lenny claims that Sammy Jankis is a fraud and says that the way of the death is Sammy's wife.Teddy claims that Sammy is a baker and never had a wife.Then, Lenny takes Teddy's gun and drops the ammunitions on his jeep's seat.And takes a picture of Jimmy's car so that he can think that it's his car then takes teddy's car key and throws it in a grass. And writes "Don't believe his lies" on Teddy's picture.Then he goes to a tattoo shop to have Teddy's license plate written on his body.Thus, explaining the theory throughout the movie.
Continuity mistake: In the scene in which Leonard writes on the back of his picture of Teddy, "He is the one. Kill him," we see a shot of Leonard placing the picture on top of his tan jacket on the bed as he goes to write on it. Then, it goes to a close-up of the picture in which the jacket has disappeared and the picture is lying directly on the blue bedspread. It actually happens twice within that same scene. (00:15:15)
Natalie: Is that what your little note says? It must be hard living your life off a couple of scraps of paper. You mix your laundry list with your grocery list you'll end up eating your underwear for breakfast.
Trivia: In the scene where Lenny is on the phone describing how Sammy Jenkis ends up in a home due to the death of his wife, it shows Sammy sitting in a chair looking towards the camera. Sammy is temporarily blocked from our view by someone walking in front of him. As the person passes by, it is not Sammy that re-appears, but Lenny. To see it well, you will have to use the frame-by-frame mode. There are about 5 visible frames of Lenny in the home, and then it cuts back to him inside the motel room talking on the phone again. (01:29:55)
Question: I still don't understand why Leonard switches clothes with Jimmy and steals his car after he kills him. "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." That makes absolutely no sense. Driving around in Jimmy's car and wearing his suit would make him the prime suspect in the investigation. He was much safer when he was just an anonymous guy driving around in a pickup truck.
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Answer: It is never explicitly given. The most Leonard says on the subject is: "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." Speculations include (you can make up your own motives as well) : (1) The clothes and car are so much nicer than his. If you are willing to kill someone: stealing is not really a "crime." Why not take the nicer objects? (2) It could be part of his "routine": Kill a man, take his clothes and car. The clothes he had on and the truck may be from the man he killed a year ago. (3) It could be that he wants to make the killer of his wife suffer even more, and takes his clothes as a way of humiliating him. Leonard takes the man's life-his clothes and car, which are wrapped up in his identity-just as the man took his. This idea seems to work with a theme in Memento about "Identity" (especially mistaken identity). Natalie thinks Leonard is Jimmy, then thinks he is Teddy, then learns he is Leonard. Teddy is "mistaken" for the second killer, Jimmy is "mistaken" for the 2nd killer. Sammy's story as a part of Leonard's story, etc. (4) It could "simply" be explained as a "plot device": Leonard has to do it, otherwise he won't find the note in "his pocket" and meet Natalie. (5) Leonard doesn't want to admit he's a murderer. He's lying to himself. If he's the victim, then he cannot be the murderer. (6) Leonard takes Jimmy's clothing as part of his routine of killing J.G.'s he becomes another person, he's the victim not the killer, thus "I'd rather be mistaken for a dead guy than a killer." and that's why he also takes his car, so he has to, once again, find his wife's killer and kill him.