I got to see Memento for the first time not too long ago. This was after I saw Batman Begins and The Prestige, so Nolan's style was well known to me, but I wasn't expecting what I got with Memento. It was disorienting, bizarre, funny, and most importantly thought provoking. My second time around I was aware of the full story. Where your first viewing experience of Memento is living main character Leonard's (Pearce) life, the second time around it is watching him live his life as his family and friends do.
For those already lost, Leonard has anterograde amnesia. He can't form new memories and can only remember the events of his life leading up to the accident that caused his illness. To illustrate this disability, Memento's scenes play out in backwards order. The last chronological plot event is seen first, and we work our way back from there. This makes sure the audience, like Leonard, doesn't know what happened before what they're viewing and have to piece together information and rely on what Leonard's notes tell him.
Aside from the editing choice, one of the best parts of this movie is the relationship between Leonard and his "friend" Teddy (Pantoliano). Leonard has no recollection of any relationship with Teddy, but the two still have this Odd Couple-esque chemistry. Leonard's disability makes it difficult, but despite all their issues they actually seem to make good friends. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Natalie (Moss) who has an ambiguous history with Leonard that is discovered and explored by the end of the film. When mixed together, these three characters make up the core of the story.
I thoroughly enjoyed Memento. It injects some new blood into the film noir genre and can still reach a broad audience. It is definitely a film that requires repeated viewing to understand all of it's facets, but I don't count that in the negative. Replay value should never be considered a bad thing. I also am finding that I enjoy the occassional film that makes you think, and Memento definitely does. It only goes to show that Chris Nolan's talent does not fade with time, as evidenced by his more recent ventures.