Memento is a movie that speaks very loudly in style and technique. Director Christopher Nolan had a very distinct way of telling a story using the perspective of someone who suffers from short term memory loss and has to work through memories to solve the mysteries in his life after brain damage. Although the order of the plot seems very confusing and jumbled, the audience is given a clue from the very beginning in the representation of the polaroid picture. Shaking a polaroid usually makes the  picture show up and become clearer, but the Nolan uses this action to defy the natural order of things and have the picture disappear, which keys the viewer in on how information will be presented to them. Nolan’s use of images as a replacement for memory is really cool concept because they are each vital to his success in finding out information and they serve as an archive of the things he isn’t able to retain in his mind.

I thought that the use of black and white film along side color was a very interesting way to portray different places in time and indicate the change in perspective. The black and white scenes seemed to be more of a concrete depiction of what actually happened in order to help the viewer make sense of the color scenes, in which they  are led by the unreliable mind of Leonard, the man with the memory loss. I think it would be interesting to create a narrative with images where they alternate between stating truth and discovering those truths because I am really interested in making work that preserves memory and shows how fear of the unknown can build someones identity. In Leonard’s case, the viewer roots for him because of his seemingly innocent search for what happened to his wife and the things he can’t remember that cause him to inquire and try to solve it.

What is sort of tragic and intriguing about this non-linear narrative is that the viewer watches him lose sight of the truth again and again and be manipulated by the lies and behavior of others. The movie is truly a work of art, and Nolan’s use of a sort of non-narrative narrative is incredibly unique. Watching it and trying to solve things with visual clues and piecing together stories inspired me to think differently about the definition of a sequence, and how traditional or abstract they can be.