Memento
Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Plot synopsis: A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife. Plot basically unfolds backwards to tell story.
Two stories are unfolding at once within this film. The first, in black and white, is completely in chronological order. The second, in color, is played in reverse. The ending of the film attempts to bring these two storylines together and make sense of everything that has happened.
Christopher Nolan
Began his studies of English Literature at University College in London which is where he began making 16mm films. "...I studied English Literature. I wasn't a very good student, but one thing I did get from it, while I was making films at the same time with the college film society, was that I started thinking about the narrative freedoms that authors had enjoyed for centuries and it seemed to me that filmmakers should enjoy those freedoms as well."
This idea continued on into the films he produced later in life. His films tend to follow a nonlinear timeline which can be seen in Following (1998), Memento (2000) and The Prestige (2006). It was his goal to change things and make his viewers rethink their idea of films. “I think audiences get too comfortable and familiar in today's movies. They believe everything they're hearing and seeing. I like to shake that up.” He took films from the linear, expected storylines that audiences were used to and could jump in and out of, and made people pay attention and question.“As soon as television became the only secondary way in which films were watched, films had to adhere to a pretty linear system, whereby you can drift off for ten minutes and go and answer the phone and not really lose your place.”
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