I. Memento is a film about brain damaged insurance investigator who has made his life’s purpose to find the killer behind his wife’s death, though it is tougher than what most individuals go through since his condition with short term memory interrupts his search.
II. Characteristics and Conventions of the Film that Link it to Classic Film Noir
1. Protagonist is Detective Figure
a. Like many classical noir films the protagonist acts as a detective figure on the quest to find his wife’s murderer.
b. Leonard discovers clues, follows leads, and investigates every piece of information he comes across to come to the conclusion to this mystery.
c. All of this makes him have the appearance of the hero of the film but certain aspects tend to sway you to think that he is not all what he appears to be, which shows a bit of a dark side to him.
2. Femme Fatale
a. Natalie’s manipulation of Leonard’s condition.
i. She takes advantage of Leonard’s short memory loss by planning a whole scenario in order for her to influence him to kill a man that is troubling her.
3. Filming Style
a. The black and white scenes are the most obvious aspects of the film that relate to classic noir.
b. Low angle shots used gives the character a more ominous look. These scenes helped the viewer understand his condition but still left vagueness in the film since you were not sure exactly what was happening since the film jumped around a lot.
III. Elements of the Film that Deviate from Classic Film Noir and Link it to Neo Noir
1. Filming Style
a. Story is told backwards, scene by scene, and it is so uniquely and well put together because it keeps the audience thoroughly engaged and constantly questioning what happened.
2. Question of Identity
a. Even though the story is voice-over narrated by the actual protagonist Leonard, it is difficult to assure that everything said in his head is true because of his debilitating condition of short-term memory loss, causing him to be incredibly unreliable.
b. In many cases he would find himself in a scenario and not remember why he was there or what was happening.
i. For example, there is a scene where he finds himself running and asks himself “What am I doing? I’m chasing this guy … No, he’s chasing me.” This question of identity is an element not found in most classic noirs which leads us into the neo-noir category.
IV. Quotes from Outside Sources
Source One:
Context:
When it comes to the term noir, it is hard to decipher whether it is a genre, style or historic cycle. In an article about Andrew Dicko’s book, Street With No Name, writer Ronald Wilson.
Quote from source:
explains how Dicko considers noir as an on-going genre because of its European roots and influences and how it is somewhat updated every year.
Significance:
Classic noir is usually known for its dark shadows, black and white pictures, moral corruption and uncertainty; all elements which relates to the film Memento.
Source Two:
Context:
According to Eric Szyszka in his article “Brain Damage: Neo-noir in the Nineties (Part II)”…
Quote from Source:
“Memento yet has a much deeper and more complex anxiety than neo-noirs of the early 90's or any other time could have maintained.”
Significance:
Even though Memento at first may appear to have more classic noir elements, with the crime, shadows, narration, and complexity, it was made in the year 2000, in which then the world has far more imagination to push the envelope in the classical noir genre and transform it into this stunning, innovative, almost intimidating, new classification.
