Memento (2000) Christopher Nolan

Memento (2000) is an American psychological thriller directed by Christopher Nolan. This is a story about a man who only had short-term memories and he need to remember thing by the tattoos on his body and the pictures he had took to recognize people by what he had written down about the person. But only thing he remembered was his wife was rape and murdered by someone and he started searching the killer. The film has set up two different timelines, a black and white and colour which shown in chronologically and reverse order. Each other are providing information to rich the audiences understanding and directing their thoughts but it is unpredictable for what is going to happen. Further more this is a film with good example of misdirection on screen. (Klein,2001)

Figure 1 memento poster

It is noticeable that the building of characters in this film is attractive while Leo meeting different people in his timeline. Memento printers subject was memory and regret, and the way adulteries often begin playfully and end miserably. There was irony in the way the characters grew happier in each scene, while the audiences knowledge of what was ahead for Figure 2 memento them deepened. (Ebert,2001) Because of the misdirection of the story, it could be seen that characters around Leo were really mystery when they reacted to Leo as they already known what was happening before. In this case, audiences were guessing who is the killer or the behind story by their faces and this bring the misdirection between what the audiences been told and the characters acting.

Figure 3 Leo remembering things by his picture

Also, this is a film, which have strong editing of postproduction. Because of the story that searching his memory by pictures and tattoos, there are many flash back and separate the past and now with black and white and colourful world. Each other were connected and giving more and more information to the audiences about the whole picture. Further more the editing of this film, when the director connect the different world and pictures, it have been played for twice in the same scene to give the same structure but a refreshment of perspective. The first time, I thought Id need a second viewing to understand everything. The second time, I found that greater understanding helped on the plot level, but enrich the viewing experience. (Ebert,2001) According to Eberts comment, it is noticeable that this film is successfully engaged to the audiences, directing the audiences thoughts though the film.

Bibliography Andy Klein, 2001, accessed 20.3.14

http://www.salon.com/2001/06/28/memento_analysis/

Roger Ebert 2001 http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/memento-2001 accessed 20.3.14 Figure1 memento poster, From memento, directed by Christopher Nolan, [film still] American http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/ accessed 20.3.14 Figure 2 memento, from memento, directed by Christopher Nolan[film still] American http://picinmotion.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/director-dissectionchristopher-nolan-memento-2000/ accessed 20.3.14 Figure 3 Leo remembering things by his picture, From Memento, directed by Christopher Nolan [film still] American http://nofilmschool.com/2013/06/watch-memento-in-chronological-orderstory-structure/ accessed 20.3.14