Despite being regarded as one of modern Hollywood’s most ambitious filmmakers, Christopher Nolan started where everyone else did: making indie movies. His first feature, the 1998 thriller Following, is a black-and-white genre exercise that’s extremely distant from the director’s current grandiose vision. It only cost a few thousand dollars, but it put the director on the map as an interesting, less-than-conventional storyteller.
Two years later, he delivered a movie that would defy conventions like no other film had. In his dual role as writer and director, Nolan adapted the short story Memento Mori by his brother Jonathan. With Memento, he achieved a near-perfect crime thriller that felt innovative in terms of its narrative style, even if Quentin Tarantino had already broken similar rules with Pulp Fiction years before.
More than 25 years since its original release, Memento remains one of Nolan’s most distinctive movies – a unique execution of revenge film tropes using a daring narrative. This is Nolan revealing that he always had an intention to do things differently. And that he did, although he may have left worldwide audiences a bit disoriented when doing so. In fact, many audiences didn’t know quite what they were in for, as the trailer below merely compiles attention-grabbing moments, with many viewers likely checking out the mystery with no grasp of the complex timeline they were about to watch unfold.
A Fractured Revenge Journey Like No Other
The following contains spoilers for Memento.First of all, Memento is truly unconventional because of Nolan’s script and his decision to use a reverse narrative structure. This means that the movie begins with the ending of the story, where Leonard (Guy Pearce) kills Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) because he believes the man may be responsible for his wife’s death. As we jump to the next “segment,” we find out that Leonard suffers from a special type of amnesia: He doesn’t remember the past, and he can’t create new memories, relying on tattoos and Polaroids as his only form of permanence towards solving the case.
As the film continues, Leonard is revealed to be a pawn who’s being manipulated by Teddy to carry out some business. He may already have found and killed his wife’s killer, but then again, nothing is certain in Leonard’s chaotic construction of events. The Polaroids and tattoos he leaves for himself only deepen the confusion.
However, Leonard’s tale of “revenge” (there’s definitely more to consider as the story unfolds) comes full circle in the end, which is actually the beginning of the original timeline, and many questions are finally answered. In the subgenre of crime thrillers, there’s literally nothing like Memento – Nolan’s groundbreaking genre exercise that proved he had a unique storytelling prowess.
Nolan Proved His Prowess in Small Scale
Ever since he started delivering movies like The Dark Knight and Inception, Nolan has secured a position in the industry that allows him to make certain demands no one else has. His ability to pull in crowds with non-franchise films has earned him the trust of any studio, and no one says no to him anymore. He wants IMAX cameras? He gets them. He wants to shoot on film? He does it. He wants a massive cast of incalculable proportions? Stars line up.
However, this doesn’t mean he can’t work on a small scale and still stick the landing. Films like Following and even The Prestige are proof. With Memento, he took things to the next level and delivered a solid thriller that bent the rules of conventional screenwriting, but never lost its focus. Though Memento is complex, it is undeniable proof that the Oppenheimer director doesn’t need hundreds of millions to make a good movie. He only needs a good script.
In any case, you may need a few rewatches to fully grasp everything happening on the screen, and luckily, HBO Max has just added the revenge thriller for you to stream. Once or twice – you make the call.
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