Leslie Notestein
T.V. Production II
Memento
Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, has a crazy narrative which moves backwards, starting at the very end then moving to the beginning. He also has one that moves forward, a series of phone conversations put in between scenes, where Leonard, the main character who is an insurance investigator, is talking to a police officer about Sammy Jenkis. Sammy Jenkis is a client of Lenny’s insurance company, a person with the same, but more severe case, short term memory problem. Lenny is an investigator, for claims, made by customers for the insurance company. He is on a mission to find and kill a man, John or James G, who causes his constant short term memory loss and the rape and murder of his wife. One of the major themes in this movie is memory versus facts.
Nolan gives his audience the ending and the audience craves to know what happened in the beginning, which is very unusual for a movie. One of the most impacting scenes was the opening shot where everything is shown in true reverse. It starts with a fully developed photograph slowly fading to an undeveloped picture, and then it is taken back into the camera. We also see Teddy getting shot in this backwards sequence, it shows the bullet go back into the gun and Teddy alive. It was shot beautifully and was amazing to watch. This movie has restricted narration with a twist, we learn right along with the main character, at the very same time as he does, but yet he can’t remember things, so he doesn’t really ever learn. This is why it is not a very big deal that the story is told backwards. This movie has a fast pace and rhythm. I think the acting was great; Guy Pierce played this role really well, he was very believable. Memento was shot in color and in black and white. Strangely, the scenes that move forward are in black and white and the ones that start from the end and work their way to the beginning are in color.