Memento

Memento is a movie that you may have to watch two or three times to fully appreciate the effort that was put into the making of that movie. The reason being, the movie is in reverse; meaning the last part is presented first and the first part is presented last and everything in between repeats itself. The movie is about memory; a man who is determined to find the person who murdered his wife and ultimately left him with this brain problem. Leonard can only remember certain things for a minute or two, then forgets what happened. He reminds himself with tattoos all over his body and pictures with little writings. This always helps him to identify the people around him and try to help him find the man who killed his wife.

 

This movie made me realize how important memory really is. I almost got frustrated when watching this movie cause all I wanted him to do was to remember the little things, but it wasn’t his fault. Memory is what we live off of essentially. Without it we wouldn’t know how to live. Crimes would be ok, because no one would remember. You would die, but no one would know. You would forget who your family is. I thought about a world where everyone functioned the same way Leonard did and I ultimately came to the conclusion; disaster.

Memento

Christopher Nolan is well known for creating thought provoking action thrillers,  and Memento lived up to that hype.  The movie made no sense while you are watching it because of the backwards timeline throughout the film.  But when the film was over it made complete sense and it still made ou think about what just happened.  You learn that the main character lies to himself and he keeps killing people that he chases after but he keeps blaming it on John G, you also learn that he creates a lie about what actually happens to his wife because he always says remeber Sammy Jenkis but in the end we learn that it was actually him who was the one who did that so it makes you think that he actually remembers everything but he chooses what to remember and what not to remember.  My favorite thing in this movie is how you see the movie through the eyes of leonard and just like in punch drunk love you get to better understand their point of view.

Momento

Momento was unlike any other movie I have ever seen. I couldn't have predicted the ending (or I guess the beginning) if my life depended on it. As the movie progressed, every scene was more shocking then the last. With just knowing the ending, there are endless possibilities of beginnings. You have no background information, you just know the outcome. But, going in chronological order gives you most of the background information you need and leaves you with less questions. Which, obviously is not even half as much fun.

Unlike most movies, it was crucial to really pay attention to every scene. If you looked away for one second, you could easily have missed an important piece to the puzzle. Every single scene mattered and every single line had a purpose. And, the format of short scenes really kept you on your toes. In the end, finally knowing what happened was totally worth the wait, the anxiety, and frustration. I feel as though this year a lot of the movies we watched gave me anxiety. A lot of them had violence, killing, and not very satisfying endings. Although Momento had all of these traits, I actually really enjoyed the violence, the killing, and the sad ending. And, although the director, Christopher Nolan, made it clear what happens at the beginning, you still get a satisfaction and you feel as though you actually solved the mystery (even though every other audience member figured it out too). Honestly, I think Momento was pure genius. Solid 10. 

Memento

I absolutely LOVE this film. This movie is so unique and each cut to a different timeline is brilliant. At first, it's hard to keep up with the movie but as the movie progresses it's much easier to understand what's going on. I love how both story lines meet in the middle at the end of the movie. Each scene is so suspenseful because the audience doesn't know what's going to happen next in each timeline and every cut to the different time reveals something even more shocking or disturbing.

At the reveal of how Teddy dies, Leonard burns the pictures of everything and starts over again so he never really stops looking for the Teddy that killed his wife. Leo also created a story about this couple who was dealing with similar things. The husband had a brain condition where he forgets everything that happened a few minutes before and the wife doesn't believe it. Every scene reveals something more to Leo's story about his wife and his search for the killer, even though the killer is inside of him. He's created a story for himself to believe to cover the fact that he's the one who killed his wife unknowingly.

At the end of the film, something that I really thought about is if Leo burned the pictures at the end and his search for Teddy never really ends, how many times could he have done it before? You assume that his search is going to keep going from that point on, but how many Teddy's could he have killed before the Teddy he killed in the movie? It's a little scary to think about, but I believe this theory is possible. 

Momento Review

Christopher Nolan's Momento is one of the most fascinating and complex movies I have seen. It is unique in its presentation of the plot as it is going back in time as well as forward as the film progresses. It also begins with the ending of the film, so the viewer is constantly trying to put pieces together and figure out what the true story is. Just like Leonard is adrift and floating through the plot, so is the viewer. Momento is able to create a connection between Leonard and the viewer in a way that the viewer is almost as confused as he is, even though they lack his short term memory loss condition. That is one of the key elements behind this film. Because there are so many flashbacks, quick cuts, and confusing scenes, the reader begins to almost feel that they know just as much as Leonard knows, even though we get some foreshadowing on what is going to happen with the scenes that are set in the future.

In the end, I believe it is the uniqueness of Momento that makes it into such a great and riveting film. Most films follow the traditional chronological plot type, however the intertwining stories form different time period as well as Leonard's debilitating condition create a film that is a must see for all.

Memento Review

In the film Memento, the director Christopher Nolan uses the theme revenge for the death of a loved one as the driving force of Lenny’s quest to find the man who raped and murdered his wife. I thought the narration of the film was the most interesting but still a bit confusing to keep up with. The black and white part of the film was moving forward while the colour part of the film was in a reverse sequence. The narration revealed only Lenny’s thoughts and feelings, but not any other characters. This narration causes suspense in Memento because Lenny often does not even know where he is or what he’s suppose to be doing and his thoughts reflect his confusion to an audience trying to put the stories pieces together through Lenny. The scenes are narrated by his thoughts, at the beginning almost every scene, Lenny is starting a new memory, almost like he’s “waking up” from a dream. His thoughts mostly help him to figure out the new setting he finds himself in.

After Teddy tells Lenny about who Sammy Jankins really is, and how Lenny has created this alternate reality in which he seeks to kill John G. so he doesn’t have to cope with the fact that his illness killed his wife. After Teddy mention this the film revolves around the question Lenny asks himself, “Do I lie to myself to be happy?” which he admits he’ll keep looking for a John G. even though he knows he already killed him, this is the only thing he has to live for. This totally changes the way the audience sees the reverse order sequence of the narrative structure.

            Close-ups are used for examining Lenny’s elaborate tattoos. In order for the audience to be able to read the tattoos and find out important information to Leonard’s quest to kill, a close up is essential it helps the story progress and brings unity to events in the story that seemed out of place/confusing before. Also Lenny’s polaroids are a key part of the story, especially the picture of Teddy. Having close-ups of Lenny adding three notes to Teddy’s Polaroid at three different parts of the story, demonstrates how significant that information to the story. 

Memento's Use of a Non-Linear Story

Memento was, without a doubt, one of the most unique movies I have ever seen. Unlike most movies, in which events are presented to the viewer in the order that they happened, Memento switches back and forth between a black and white sequence which occurs first chronologically and moves forwards in time, and a colorized sequence which begins at the "end" of the story chronologically, and moves backwards in time in chunks, with a brief overlap between each chunk so that the viewer can connect the dots. To call this a complex story would be an understatement, but while this convoluted structure can be confusing to the viewer, it is also what makes the genius of this film. Memento's main character, Leonard Shelby, has a memory condition that causes him to forget all events within a few minutes of them happening. So, by showing a large portion of the film's events in reverse order, director Christopher Nolan forces his audience into experiencing things from Leonard's perspective, because while Leonard doesn't remember events that occurred just a few hours ago due to his condition, the audience simply hasn't seen them yet, and become just as confused as Leonard himself. Eventually, the two sequences meet in the story's chronological middle, and the events that lead to Teddy's death are finally revealed. This is one of only two movies I have ever seen that I believe makes effective use of a non-linear story line, the other being "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Both films use their non-linear stories to intentionally omit key details from the audience's knowledge, keeping them guessing until the final reveal at the end. All in all, Memento is a masterfully written screenplay that manages to turn a story that initially seems  to be incomprehensibly chaotic into a true masterpiece.

Memento Blog: Cameron Haber

I must hand it to director, Christopher Nolan, for making what is probably one of the best movies i have ever seen. Of course I'm talking about his film in 2000, Memento. Starring Guy Pearce as Leonard, a man, suffering from short-term memory loss, who uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife. I believe what made this movie so great with addition to the great plot, after all whats better then man out on the hunt seeking vengeance, was the obscurity of Nolan's style of filming. 

 I have never seen a movie shot the way Memento was. With the viewer actually knowing the fate of a later character after the movie, the epilogue if you will. Working backwards all the way to the beginning of the main characters story. Nolan's use of black and white in the film was also very well used symbolizing past tense for the views to understand and switching to color anytime a scene was in the present. In addition i thought Leonard's character was one of the more interesting characters I've ever seen on the big screen. Even with a severe condition of short term memory, he continued to hunt down the killer of his wife regardless whether he would remember doing so. I thought the psychological aspect to Leonard's character was quite intriguing and got me to think more during the film. An additional comment i have on this film is about the ending. With out giving anything away i thought ending was fantastic how everything kind of tied together at the end, and when the credits came on. You had that feeling of "no way". Similar to the feeling you get after watching a movie such as Usual Suspects. How everything makes sense in the last seen (sort of). Overall Memento was a great movie scripting wise, and with its cinemitogrraphy effects and ideas.