Memento at 20: Christopher Nolan's memory thriller is hard to forget

The ambitiously structured noir gave us an early sign of what was to come from the director who would go on to bigger, if not always better, things

The first time I encountered Memento, at the 2000 Toronto film festival, it was one of those rare buzz magnets that nobody has on their schedule at the beginning of the festival, but everyone rushes to squeeze in towards the end. Christopher Nolan was still an unknown quantity, having only directed the little-seen DIY thriller Following, and the film was being screened at the Uptown, in one of the chilly dungeons underneath the gorgeous theater reserved for bigger premieres and Midnight Madness screenings.

Related: From Memento to Interstellar: our writers pick their favourite Christopher Nolan films