7. Memento (2000)

Nolan’s sophomore movie Memento officially put him on the map. Even now, it is arguably his definitive treatise on memory, trust, truth, and identity. Conceived over a road trip with brother Jonathan Nolan (himself a successful TV producer whom he’s collaborated with across his work) Memento traces the tense efforts of an insurance investigator (Guy Pearce) to piece together who killed his wife while suffering from a rare form of amnesia.

When all laid out, as others have – like Andy Klein in a memorable 2001 article for Salon – its non-linear plot with alternating color and black-and-white scenes (Oppenheimer says hi!) come across like a comically advanced class in neuropsychology. But past its Byzantine nature is a storyteller afforded far more resources than he had on Following. Nolan takes advantage of his upgraded arsenal, especially a roster of studied Hollywood actors like Pearce, Joe Pantoliano, Stephen Tobolowsky, and The Matrix’s Carrie-Ann Moss, which crucially demonstrate the other puzzle piece that’s made his career so prolific: getting the best performances out of his actors. It’s one thing to make a good, cerebral movie like Following your first one. It’s another to do it again, with even more eyes watching you.