Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan

Memento (2000) Rated R

Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan

Who has also done The Dark Knight and The Prestige

Based on the shorty story Momento Mori by Jonathan Nolan

Cast/Characters

Leonard Guy Pearse

Natalie Carrie-Anne Moss

Teddy Gammell Joe Pantoliano

Sammy Jankis Stephen Tobolowsky

Introduction

Tagline: Some memories are best forgotten.

Memento chronicles two separate stories of Leonard, an ex-insurance investigator who can no longer build new memories, as he attempts to find the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he remembers. One story line movies forward in time while the other tells the story backwards revealing more each time. A memory inside a memory, Memento is a complicated head spinning adventure. Leonard is determined to avenge his wife's murder. To parallel his inability to remember anything, the movie is told in forward flashes of events that are to come that compensate for his unreliable memory.

“If I told you the entire plot of this film it really wouldn't matter as it is an exquisite paean to the subjectivity of memory and therefore is in itself ambiguous; the ‘truth' of it is up to you. You come out of the cinema questioning yourself, your memories, your truths. Nothing in this film is as it seems.” www.imdb.com

Awards

Nominated for various awards in the following categories: Best Film (x6), Editing (x3), Screenplay (x5), Actor (x5), Supporting Actress, Director (x6), Cinematography.

Won awards for Screenwriting (x16), Best Film (x9), Casting, Director (x5), Supporting Actress, Actor (x2), Editing (x2).

Nominated for two Oscars in 2002 for Editing and Screenplay.

Christopher Nolan won the Russell Smith Award at the 2002 Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards.

Won a Special Jury Prize the CineLive Award and the Critics’ Award at the 2000Deauville Film Festival and was as well nominated for the Grand Special Prize.

Nominated for a Golden Globe in 2002 for Best Screenplay.

Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001.

Reviews

Memento by Roger Ebert April 13, 2001 www.rogerebert.suntimes.com

Leonard is played by Guy Pearce, in a performance that is curiously moving, considering that by definition it has no emotional arc. He has witnessed the violent death of his wife and is determined to avenge it. But he has had short-term memory loss ever since the death and has to make copious notes--he even has memos tattooed to his body as reminders.
If Leonard keeps forgetting what has already happened, we in the audience suffer from the opposite condition. We begin at the end, and work our way back toward the beginning, because the story is told backward.
Well, not exactly; it begins with a brilliant idea, a Polaroid photograph that fades instead of developing, but every individual scene plays with time running forward, and there are some lateral moves and flashbacks that illuminate, or confuse, the issue. Essentially, Leonard is adrift in time and experience, and therefore so are we.

Nolan's device of telling his story backward, or sort of backward, is simply that--a device. It does not reflect the way Leonard thinks. He still operates in chronological time, and does not know he is in a time-reversed movie. The film's deep backward and abysm of time is for our entertainment and has nothing to do with his condition. It may actually make the movie too clever for its own good. I've seen it twice. The first time, I thought I'd need a second viewing to understand everything. The second time, I found that greater understanding helped on the plot level, but didn't enrich the viewing experience… confusion is the state we are intended to be in.

The purpose of the movie is not for us to solve the murder of the wife ("I can't remember to forget you," he says of her). If we leave the theater not sure exactly what happened, that's fair enough. The movie is more like a poignant exercise, in which Leonard's residual code of honor pushes him through a fog of amnesia toward what he feels is his moral duty. The movie doesn't supply the usual payoff of a thriller (how can it?), but it's uncanny in evoking a state of mind. Maybe telling it backward is Nolan's way of forcing us to identify with the hero. Hey, we all just got here. 

Memento by Lisa Nesselson September 14, 2000 www.variety.com

A bravura tribute to the spirit of "Point Blank" and the importance of short-term memory, "Memento" deconstructs time and space with Einstein-caliber dexterity in the service of a delectably disturbing tale of revenge. British-born scripter-helmer Christopher Nolan avoids the sophomore slump with flying colors while deepening some of the themes so craftily explored in his debut effort, "Following." Pic's aggressively nonlinear structure and subtle accretion of clues suggest a second viewing may yield additional rewards, although it's all there the first time around for attentive auds. Excellent reviews and encouraging word-of-mouth seem likely for this beautifully structured puzzle, which sustains its mystery until the punch-packing resolution of the final frames.

Opening credits show a hand holding a Polaroid photo of a bloodied dead man lying face down on concrete. The photo "un-develops" -- indicating the scene is being shown in reverse. It's a crucial image as well as an apt intro to a story told via constant episodes of backtracking and partial repetition, all meticulously layered to approximate the waking nightmare and endless conundrum of Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce, with bleached blond hair and an American accent).

If ever there was an unreliable narrator, Leonard is it. He can recall everything that happened in his life until the night of the assault that left his wife dead and him with brain damage from being hit over the head. Since then, he hasn't been able to make a memory "stick."

Thanks to his condition, Leonard is simultaneously miserable and serene. He has to write himself notes about everything, with the most crucial reminders concerning his mission -- such as "John G. raped and murdered your wife" -- tattooed on his skin. Unable to remember anyone he's met post-assault, no matter how many times they've interacted, Leonard takes Polaroids of everyone he meets and jots captions on them such as "She will help you out of pity" (in reference to a barmaid, played by Carrie-Anne Moss) or "Don't believe his lies" (in reference to an alleged friend, played by Joe Pantoliano).

Leonard's curse is that even if he does get revenge, he won't remember it a few minutes later. His condition also puts a fresh, frequently comical, twist on elements as basic as a chase scene: Leonard is running, but he can't recall whether he's doing the chasing or is being chased.

Terrific idea and ingenious execution may wear thin or grow irritating for viewers unaccustomed to paying close attention. But anybody who dug the trippy triptych structure of "Pulp Fiction" should be able to keep up with the temporal shifts as narrative moves back, forward and sometimes sideways with the alacrity of a crab scuttling across the widescreen. Dody Dorn's editing is top-notch as pic -- scripted, acted and lensed with precision -- smoothly toggles back and forth between sequences in B&W and in color.

Pearce is superb, Moss and Pantoliano are vital sounding boards for Leonard's quest and Mark Boone Jr. is a hoot as the motel desk clerk who rents Leonard two rooms on the theory he won't recall having paid for either one. Stephen Tobolowsky is poignant as another victim of short-term memory loss whose sad evolution haunts Leonard.

L.A.-set pic has an impressive noir-in-the-sunshine feel, built of cars, bars, motels and isolated hideaways. The ambient rumble of the unsettling, ominous score contributes enormously to the discomfiting mood.

Allusions, References and Noteable Notes

Relativism is not a single doctrine but a family of views whose common theme is that some central aspect of experience, thought, evaluation, or even reality is somehow relative to something else.[i] Cognitive relativists hold that there can be no universal knowledge of the world, but only diverse interpretations of it. Moral relativists hold that there are no universal standards of moral value, but only the cultural norms of particular societies.[ii]

Some relativist maxims include:

·  "That's true for you but not for me."

·  "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

·  "You can't judge other cultures by the standards of your own."

·  “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”[iii]

Hamlet expresses a relativist idea when he says to Rosencrantz: "there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so" (II,ii,239-240).

The idea that nothing is real except in the mind of the individual finds its roots in the Greek Sophists, who argued that since nothing can be perceived except through the senses, and all men felt and sensed things differently, truth was entirely relative. There was no absolute truth.[iv]

Some famous relativists include: Gorgias, Michel Foucault, Noam Chomsky.[v]

Virtue ethics is a broad term for theories that emphasize the role ofcharacter and virtue inmoral philosophy rather than either doing one’s duty or acting in order to bring aboutgood consequences. A virtue ethicist is likely to give you this kind of moral advice: “Act as a virtuous person would act in your situation.”

Most virtue ethics theories take their inspiration from Aristotle who declared thata virtuous person is someone who has ideal character traits. These traits derive from natural internal tendencies, but need to be nurtured; however, once established, they will become stable. For example, a virtuous person is someone who is kind across many situations over a lifetime because that is her character and not because she wants to maximize utility or gain favors or simply do her duty. Unlike deontological and consequentialist theories, theories of virtue ethics do not aim primarily to identify universal principles that can be applied in any moral situation. And virtue ethics theories deal with wider questions—“How should I live?” and “What is the good life?” and “What are proper family and social values?”

Read more on virtue ethics at http://www.iep.utm.edu/virtue/

Characteristics of Film Noir: Dark, shadowy, contrasty images filmed in black and white, often at night and usually in a gritty urban setting; Hard-boiled, cynical, disillusioned characters — who are nevertheless usually likable; A male protagonist facing a moral dilemma and/or some kind of threat; An alluring, independent and usually dangerous woman; A crime or detective story; Flashbacks; A voice-over narration; Crisp, often witty dialog, sprinkled with great one-liners; A healthy dose of paranoia or, at the very least, a strong sense of insecurity, betrayal,

or being trapped; Angst; No happy ending.

More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir

Text as Story

à What philosophical questions regarding personal identity does Nolan explore through the film?

à What are the philosophical ramifications of Lenny’s statement: “The world doesn’t disappear when you close your eyes, does it? My actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember them. My wife deserves vengeance, and it doesn’t make any difference whether I know about it.”

à How do Lenny’s statements about the reliability of memory work in with his “external memory” of Polaroid’s and tattoos?

à In what ways is Lenny’s choice to jot down Teddy’s license plate morally ambiguous? What is the role of moral relativism in Lenny’s lifestyle? Could Lenny be considered a tragic hero?

à How do each of Lenny’s associates compare morally to one another? Are there any moral characters in the film? What does this say about Nolan’s impression of morality?

à Does memory have the power to negate epiphany? What is Nolan saying about the arbitrary power of meaning?

à What is the relationship between morality and irony?

Text as Technique

à How does the narrative structure of the film manipulate the normal concepts of narrative structure? (initial incident, climax, rising action etc.)

à Flashback is defined as “a segment of film that breaks normal chronological order by shifting directly to time past. Flashback may be subjective (showing the thoughts and memory of a character) or objective (returning to earlier events to show their relationship to the present).” How does Nolan use flashback in his film? How does this change our concept/interpretation of flashback in Leonard’s narrative?

à What techniques does Nolan use to create continuity in his film? In other words, how are we as viewers able to discern the chronological order of events?

à What is the purpose of the black and white scenes? How do they fit into the chronology of the film? What is the purpose of having them in black and white?

à In what ways does this film align to the techniques of Film Noir?

[i]Notes for Relevatism

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/relativism/#2.5

[ii] http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/r9.htm

[iii] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativism

[iv] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_approaches_to_Hamlet

[v] http://www.quantonics.com/Famous_CRites.html