Memento

When people ask me about my favorite movie/movies, I often say that it's not just one, but the first film that always comes to mind as one of them is "Memento". Then I continue to reference as well films like "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly", "Fight Club", "The Fountain", "The Prestige", "The Godfather Part II", "The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford", or even films like "300", "Terminator 2" and "Predator" (they have their own value).

The fact is though, "Memento" always comes to mind first, before everything else.



I've seen the film at least 5-6 times, but it's been a few years since the last time I watched it. Now, starting to do work on my dissertation on Christopher Nolan, I'm re-watching all of his films, and I've just finished watching this one. And although as I said I always reference it as one of my favorite films, I don't always remember why it is exactly. I mean, I always remember the film pretty well, after so many viewings, but I seem to forget the little details, the small stuff that make the difference from a "pretty good" film, to a real masterpiece. So this blog is my polaroid, my tattoo, my fact to remind myself why this film is not really one of my favourite films, but my absolute favourite film ever made!

Memento is expanding on themes that Nolan had explored in his first film (Following, 1998), mainly those of identity. Besides, what better way of examining who you really are, than a person who can't create any new memories. As one of the characters say in the film: "That's who you were Lenny, you have no idea who you are, who you've become".

Lenny, or Leonard is a guy that after an accident has lost his short-term memory. He remembers all of his life up until the incident, but he can't create any new memories after that. Determined to find his wife's killer, he has invented a way to remind himself what he is doing through polaroid photos, tattoos and notes.

And here's the great part. The film's scenes are put backwards, so that everytime we watch a new scene, we don't know what has happened before, just like Leonard. And don't be mistaken, don't think that this is probably a gimmick to make the film different, it's not a linear 3-act structure put backwards. The film has a beginning, a middle and an end as it is! If you ever have the chance to watch it chronologically, you'll see it isn't working. It was written this way, it works this way, it's an essential part of the storytelling.

The backwards scenes are interrupted by some black & white segments, seemingly unrelated to the main story. Although, as you get to the end you realize more and more that this is not the case. I'm not going to spoil it for you, I still remember the "Oh, Fuck!" moment when I realized what was going on. It's one of the good ones!

If you haven't seen the film, and I'll touch more on this in a minute, do yourself a favor and make sure you have some spare time after the screening for either long discussions with your co-viewers, a repeat viewing or segment viewing if on your own, or even both! I'm telling you, you're gonna need at least two viewing to get a grasp of the whole story, and you're gonna be discovering new stuff every single time you watch it.

The writing is very skillfully written. I had the chance to read Jonathan Nolan's short story "Memento Mori" on which the film is roughly based on, but it just borrows the general idea/premise. I would consider it an original screenplay because most of the plot is created for the film, it wasn't in the original story.

For the first time I've noticed some things on the way the film is shot. Although it uses very simple shots, the colors are a little bit more heightened than usual, for example Leonard's blue shirt, and I believe this is to indicate a world that is realistic, but a just a bit more intense than normal. It is the world that Leonard lives in. A world where you see everything for the first time. Always.

I'm slowly realizing that the main theme of identity is not only explored in Nolan's previous film, but also in all of his next films. Who we really are and what are we capable to do are questions that are explored even in his Batman films. I'm already watching Nolan from a different POV. Always respected him and had him in my top-3 directors, but I'm realizing he could be my top-1!

I'm not gonna write anything more, cause I'd have to get into plot details and it'll be a big shame to know things about the film if you haven't seen it before.

Let me say this though:

If you have never seen this film, do it now! There is absolutely no excuse of being into films, either as a film-maker or a film-lover, and never having seen it. I know that you hear that for a lot of films, but seriously, do yourself a favor, watch it! And then watch it again. And again.

'Till next post (could be a while :p),
your friend,
D.