I.Intro
Memento is about a guy
named Leonard who has lost his short term memory and is on the hunt for his
wife’s killer while relying only on his notes in pictures, and tattoos.
II. Characteristics and Conventions of the Film that
Link it to Classic Film Noir
1. Leonard
plays the role of the detective in this film, even if he doesn’t wear a drench
coat and a fedora. He acts like one by going around asking questions and taking
pictures while carrying a gun. He even talks like one, saying, “I got a lead on
a place” (Memento). Richard Armstrong
argues in his article, Somewhere in the
Night: Memento, that “Leonard Shelby is actually an anti-detective, not
resolving a crime but implicating himself the more he investigates” (123). He
investigates and that makes him the detective as he would be in classical noir
but the fact that he doesn’t get anywhere makes him the anti-detective like
Armstrong names him.
2. The
femme fatal is another attribute to classical noir and is present in this film.
Natalie is the femme fatal who uses Leonard to her advantage. She is very well
aware of his condition and uses him to get rid of a guy for her. She takes him
over to her house trying to sound nice and helpful but soon she starts telling
him how stupid he is, and when she starts talking about his wife, he smacks her
across the face, leaving her a bloody lip. Before walking out of the house, she
hides all the pens and he desperately looks for one to write down a note saying
not to trust her. When she slams the door on her way back in, he has forgotten
everything and she lies saying it was another guy, and Leonard offers to help.
III.Elements of the Film that Deviate from Classic
Film Noir and Link it to Neo Noir
1. Memento
provides the viewers with a non-linear narration with three types of scenes:
color, black-and-white, and flashbacks. The color scenes are presented in
reverse chronological order and the black-and-white ones are presented in
normal chronological order. This first color scene, in reality is the last
scene of the storyline. Following the first scene, is the first black-and-white
scene which is the first scene of the storyline. Leonard has two sets of flashbacks
that are shown in the film. One of them is the one that are shot twice. The
flashbacks that are shown twice have meaningful differences. The other types of
flashbacks are fantasy.
2. The
protagonist, Leonard, suffers from anterograde amnesia like other neo-noir
protagonists. In the attempt to save his wife from burglars, he got his head
smashed against the bathroom mirror and that’s the last thing he remembers. In
his article Somewhere in the Night:
Memento, Armstrong states that, “Leonard descends from and essential strain
of noir protagonist: damaged, confused and alone” (120). Leonard’s condition
causes him confusion throughout the whole film and with people taking advantage
of him, there is no doubt he is on his own.
