Sometimes it’s all too easy to forget how good a film is. It’s understandable that Christopher Nolan’s more recent films – which includes the last two Batmans (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) and the absurdly awesome Inception – could overshadow his earlier efforts; after all Memento is now ten years old. Yes really. Thankfully, its release on the Blu-ray format serves as the perfect memory jolt in recognising the British director’s early genius; and let’s face it, owning it on Blu-ray is also less painful than tattooing ‘I [heart] Memento’ on your inner thigh.

Due to a horrific incident in his life that saw his wife murdered, Leonard (Guy Pearce) now suffers from a severe case of short term memory loss. Everything pre the incident is intact in his memory, such as his past, hid relationships etc. But everything that happens in his present can disappear in a blink of an eye.

What he does remember though is this: his wife was murdered, and he wants to track down the person who did it. Due to his frequent memory loss however, playing detective is easier said than done. To help his investigation he writes a lot of stuff down; he also uses a Polaroid picture a lot to remind him of the characters who have crossed his path, to help him keep track of who’s friend or foe. It’s on his body where he keeps his most important notes; there are certain key pieces of information that are just too important to be left written down on paper, so he has them tattooed on his person.

These visual aids are vital to Leonard as he pieces his past together to form the answers he’s desperately looking for. But when you don’t remember anything in the short term, it’s difficult to know who it is that you can really trust.

I only went in for a small dragon tattoo but came away with all these. My mum won't be happy with me at all.

Not only does Nolan have a puzzling script (which he also wrote, adapted from the short story Memento Mori written by his brother Jonathan) that keeps audiences on the edge of their seats, but the story is told in two distinct approaches.

The first, shown in colour, reveals fragments of Leonard’s story since his ‘incident’ in reverse. The other is Leonard’s story in the past before his wife’s murder; not only is it told in chronological order this time, but it’s also shown in black and white. Cleverly the film reaches its climax when both parts of his timeline collide.

To call Memento a ‘busy’ film would be an understatement. To call it a head fuck would be closer to the truth. And yet despite all the mental hoops it makes you jump through to keep up with it, it’s completely worth it.

But as well as being a smarty pants, it’s also liberally laced with very dark humour. And because of the complex yet intriguing nature of the way that it’s put together, it’s one of those rare films that truly does benefit from being watched more than once.

What’s even more incredible is that the whole film was shot in only 25 days. This may well have been due to budget constraints, although it wouldn’t come as a surprise if it was purely down to Nolan showing off.

It’s easy to bandy the term ‘modern classic’ willy nilly, but Memento is truly deserving of such praise. Not only that, it’s also the ultimate flashback flick.

And although this Blu-ray doesn’t come with any extras that haven’t been seen before, no other film is worth watching again with the director’s commentary on than this. Plus if you’re in the mood for a little detective work yourself, there are a few hidden extras such as three alternative endings and The Beginning of the End feature you can hunt for.

Finally, here are a couple of tips for you to know when a self-confessed cinephile is bluffing. One is if they have a copy of Titanic on their shelves, the other is if they don’t have Memento in their collection.