Memento

Memento (Christopher Nolan) begins with the ultimate act of revenge when Leonard (Guy Pearce) kills Teddy, the story then back tracks through time to reveal when Leonard (Guy Pearce) kills Teddy, the story then back tracks through time to reveal the reasons why. This film has a clever narrative, which keeps the audience guessing throughout, making it an instant classic. Narrative structures are very important to a film because this is the way the story is told. It had to be used in an effective way to make the audience understand what is happening and make it interesting to watch. Memento does this perfectly with an unusual narrative structure. I have chose to analyse the first 15 minutes of the film, which shows the relationship between the two of the main characters and tries to show the confusion and betrayal which Leonard feels.

Memento comes under the genre Thriller, and is an old-fashioned ‘film-noir’ type mystery. Memento is not just a typical thriller however as it comes under the hybrid genre of psychological thriller, this is achieved by the story being told in forward flashed of events that are to come. I really like these flash photographs used in film to make it seem like the character has suddenly remembered something else, making the viewers imagination run. This was of unravelling the story adds to the films psychological story line as you are constantly restricted to what the main character (Leonard) knows, discovering information as the film goes on, which means the audience are kept guessing. This restriction throughout represents Leonard’s short-term memory loss.

Within the first minute of the film, the iconography used lets you know you are watching a thriller, as for the close up shot of the gun Leonard is holding. The general mise-en-scene also emphasises that it is a thriller as for the dilapidated setting and scruffy suits worn, The clothes worn make Leonard a stock character what he is wearing is typical to the genre of thrillers. The way he is acting makes him seem like a police officer and he is also dressed smartly as if he’s undercover. The image of Leonard is similar to that of how Brad Pitts character is dressed in the thriller Seven. This is again another visual response which helps define the Genre.

The themes that come up in the opening 15 minutes sequence relate to the films psychological side, as for the isolation of the main character Leonard that is shown with the use of monochrome shots of him alone in his room. There is also a voice over where is meant to be Leonard talking to himself, which is another link to indicate that it is a physiological thriller because we usually associate people who talk to themselves as mentally unstable. The monochrome shots also represent Leonard’s disjointed life and loss of memory as they show his life in a different way; he can only remember things from before his accident so the black and white shots represent things that are missing in his life, such as his deceased wife. The theme of vulnerability also plays a big role in the film because of Leonard’s condition people are able to take advantage of him and he wont remember.

The narrative is established within the first minute of the film, as we see a Polaroid picture developing. This is because the film is chronologically presented backwards so the film begins where it should end and works its way towards the beginning. I like that the whole point of the film is that you are not meant to understand every little thing the first time you watch it, but work things out for your self, and interpret what you see for your own story.

The film starts where is should end, and we see a shooting so this means the disruption of the film starts straight away with no equilibrium at the outset. Many thriller and horror films start off straight away with their disruption to get the audience attention and to keep them on the edge of their seats with an unexpected narrative. If we were to watch the film from the end back to the beginning in the ‘correct chronological order’ we would understand that that Leonard is trying to repair the disruption buy finding the man who killed his wife.

Leonard’s character matches the narrative flow perfectly. As an audience we never know what is fully going on until the end because of the backwards narrative, which also mirrors Leonard’s personality, as he never knows what’s going on either because of his memory loss condition which means he has to use his initiative, as do we whilst watching.

Propp stated that there are Seven main character types; the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess (and father), the dispatcher, the hero and the false her. It is hard go establish the Heroes and Villains and other characters watching the first 15 minutes sequence because of the uncertainty of which characters are good and which are bad. At the start of the film we see Leonard killing Teddy and we don’t know why, which makes him a villain. Then we find out that this is because he thinks Teddy is the man that killed his wife, which would make Teddy a villain as well. All the characters we meet within the sequence are ambiguous and at the end of the film it is your own decision to decide who is innocent and who is guilty. This is something I find very interesting as a viewer, and would like to create some confusion within my own work, to allow the viewer to decide the story for themselves.

The film has two separate, parallel storylines. The main one shit in colour is chronologically backwards. The other shot in monochrome helps the audience to understand what is happening in the colour shots. The monochrome also illustrates a time distinction to what is happening in the colour storyline. This non-linear narrative is emphasised with the use of repetitive shots, which have no real linear link between them. The director does this throughout so that you don’t forget what was just happening in the colour storyline. This non linear narrative is emphasised with the use of repetitive shots, which have no real linear links between them, The director does this throughout so that you don’t forget what was just happening as it is being told backwards, this is to keep the audience captivated to find out what is going to happen next to help you understand what is going on fully.

These different aspects are all very important for me when I come to make my own final films and will help me when storyboarding. I need to keep in mind the narrative structure, as it is very important to engage the audience by making it interesting and elusive.