Mushrooms won't help when it comes to "Memento," the first film in the Sundance competition to go into wide release and my favorite among the sixteen dramas that vied for prizes. This mesmerizing mind-bender - it's really a mind fuck as well as a new classic among thrillers - won the screenwriting award for its British writer and director, Christopher Nolan, 29, who based the script on a short story by his brother, Jonathan. The movie features a tour-de-force performance from Australian actor…

If you're unable to remember what you've done, how do you know you've done it? That's the question facing a man afflicted with short-term memory loss who seeks to avenge his wife's murder in this Sundance hit.

Story

Bent on avenging the rape and murder of his wife, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce)

must not only find the guy who did it, but also do so without benefit of the ability

to create short-term memories, the result of a brain injury sustained in the incident.

He can still recall events before…