Memento

I originally thought I wouldn't enjoy this project, but after having watched a few thrillers I have realised I was wrong. I didn't think I would enjoy the thriller genre as a whole, but some of the plots are amazing. In particular Memento has stood out to me for a number of reasons.

Firstly enigma is the key to Memento and it is why I think it is so succesful as a film. At the beginning of the film you see the ending, and so you think it will be a simple case of find out how you got to that point, you think you already know the conclusion. But you are proved wrong in your predictions time and time again. You think you can trust people and then the film shocks you and you realise that you can't.

Lenny, the main character, hasn't got anyone he can really trust because of a condition meaning he cannot make short term memories. This means he cannot identify anyone or remember situations that have occured more than ten minutes before. Due to this it ends up with the audience siding with Lenny and being against everyone, everyone has the potential to be a villain. You also realise that when you do trust someone, they normally aren't worthy of it. As a result it shocks the audience, things you aren't suspecting happen, such as Natalie's abuse of Lenny's condition for her own means (she influences him to kill Teddy and also to beat up Dodd).

Another of the films credits, is that the audience works through the story backwards. This doesn't follow the linear sequence of events that most films do, so from the beginning it has you hooked, because you have to concentrate and get into the story to totally understand. By working backwards you make assumptions and predictions about what happened to get the story to the ending, it is gratifying for the audience if they are correct, but equally thrilling at the turn of events and the twists that occur. It is also gratifying for the audience to be able to explain parts of the story to other people who have seen it if they don't understand certain areas, it makes the audience feel superior and a film specialist if they can decode something, and put two and two together and other people can't.

I think the film is very effective with its variety of characters, a cryptic sequence of events and a very surprising ending. I want to possibly use some of the techniques used by Memento in my opening sequence of a thriller. Things such as giving the ending away then backtracking into the story was very effective and kept me asking questions. Next the way in which the questions were answered was effective, gradually moving back in larger sections but as the next bit of information was given to you it would return to somewhere you have already been (the last bit of information you were given) so it leaves it to the audience to piece things together for themselves, it gives them something to do in a way, the audience has to participate and connect bits together, it isn't just done for them in a linear fashion, and this I feel stops the audience drifitng in their attention. It keeps you focused on the action.

Memento's website address is very clever too, it is backwards, just like the order of sequencing in the film: http://www.otnemem.com/