Leonard (Pearce) is an insurance investigator seeking revenge on the man who raped and murdered his wife. His single-minded quest is complicated by an accident that has left him with no short-term memory, and he relies on a complex system of scribbled notes, Polaroids, and tattoos to guide him in his paranoid pursuit of retribution. Director Nolan's neo-noir thriller relies on the intricate use of editing to create the desperate aura of a mind—and a narrative—in search of memory and cohesion. Using a combination of black-and-white and color cinematography and a complex narrative structure, Memento succeeds in placing the audience and the protagonist on equal and ambiguous footing.