Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Guy Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Carrie-Anne Moss, Mark Boone Junior
Factual error: In the beginning, Leonard looks at a copy of John G/Teddy's driver's license. The expiration date is listed as 2-29-01, but of course, 2001 was not a leap year, so there would've only been 28 days in the month. (00:12:45)
Factual error: On the upper right corner of the notes Leonard took about the police report, he wrote down the phone number of a detective (Brian Mezear?). It has 8 digits, intead of the 7 or 10 it should have. (00:57:10)
Continuity mistake: After entering room 304, Leonard steps on the bed to put the 4 photos back up on his paper on the wall. In the 1st close-up he puts the Discount Inn and the 2nd close-up he puts up Natalie. Then in a wide shot of Leonard looking at the paper, visible at the top of the paper, in the center, is the photo of Natalie and on its right is the photo of Teddy, already up. In the next shot, the 3rd close-up, he puts up his car. However in the next wide shot ALL three photos that he just put up in the close-ups are GONE. Then in the 4th close-up he puts up Teddy's photo, which was up in the first wide shot. (00:12:25)
Leonard Shelby: You know, I can remember so much. The feel of the world... Her. She's gone. And the present is trivia, which I scribble down as fucking notes.
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.