The World Of Chrisopher Nolan Part 2- Memento

"Remember Sammy Jankis"

I continue my trip through the world of Christopher Nolan with his second feature film Memento (2000). This is probably my favorite of all of his movies (As much as I want to say Batman, but for other reasons, Christian Bale :oP) Memento was produced 2 years after Nolan completed Following and contains many of the same film making elements that Nolan appeared to be experimenting with in his first film. Memento is actually based on a short story that his brother Johnathan wrote, but it was not published until after the movie was released.

The basic story follows Leonard Shelby, who was attacked in his home when trying to protect his wife from two men who entered his home and raped her. They hit him on his head and caused him to no longer be able to produce any new memories. The last thing that Leonard says he remembers is his wife dying. He makes it his mission to locate and kill the man who murdered his wife and took away his memory. Since he is unable to produce any new memories Leonard must relay on the notes and pictures that he takes. He also tattoos the most important things on his body. He cannot remember things for more than a few minutes at a time....making the search for his wife's killer a bit challenging.

This story is enough to make an interesting movie, but Nolan takes it one step further in the WAY he tells the story. Much like he did with Following, Nolan starts at the end of the story and works his way backwards. He takes the beginning of the movie, the end of the movie, and shows snips of both until they finally come together full circle back to the opening sequence. (which is actually played backwards) Confusing you say??? How will I know what is the beginning of the movie and what is the end?? All valid questions, and there is a simple answer. Nolan uses black and white to help distinguish between the different sequences of events. One of my favorite moments in the movie is when the two sequences finally come together and it changes over from black and white to color. As in Following, much to what Leonard is experiencing, much like Billy, is not everything that is appears to be.

The acting in this movie was also very good. Guy Pierce did a great job as Leonard. I found it very interesting that he was not the first choice for the roll. Carrie-Ann Moss and Joe Pantoliano, both fresh off The Matrix, also did amazing jobs with their rolls. These seemed to really be difficult parts to really get down, yet each actor seemed so comfortable and so perfect in each of their rolls.

This is such a hard movie to talk about without giving to much away, and I don't want to do that at all. I will say that this is one of the movies that a person really needs to watch at least twice. You pick up so many different things the second time around, that you wish you had noticed the first time. This is truly a must for all Nolan fans, and fans of cinema in general. I really felt like this was the movie that he was trying to make with Following. That was his practice, his stepping stone, and without making that movie I don't believe Memento would have be the amazing movie that it is.

So I say...Watch it....watch it again....and then make a decision, but I can promise you that for those 113 minutes, you will not be bored. Confused....maybe....bored....not at all.

"Just because I don't remember, doesn't make my actions meaningless. The world doesn't disappear just because I close my eyes." 

The World of Christopher Nolan Part 1- Following

"Everyone has a box."

In honor of the release of The Dark Knight Rises this week, I decided to go back and review all of Christopher Nolan's films. He is one of my favorite directors of all time, and it is never a bad thing to watch a Nolan film, and I always have something to say about everything, so what better place than my own movie blog. (and it's a great way to pass some time while in the hospital :oP ) I thought it fitting to watch his movies in order of their release. It is always interesting to watch a director's progression and growth. So, I started with his 1998, black and white movie, Following.
Following appears a first to have a very simple story line, a young struggling writer, Bill, follows people in order to help inspire his writing. One of his marks notices him one day and approaches him. This man, Cobb, turns out to be a thief. (Fun fact: also the last name of DiCaprio's character in Inception) Cobb begins to teach him the ropes of breaking and entering. Seemingly basic storyline correct? Nothing is ever basic with Nolan, and that is why is his amazing.

This movie is categorized as being a film nor, which is a fancy word for a stylish crime drama. I found that this particular film really reminded me of some of Hitchcock's (my favorite director ever, he stands above everyone else) This movie, much like his second film Memento, does not start at the complete beginning of the film. It goes back and forth from the beginning of the story, the end of the story, and even at times the middle of the story. Being that this was his first full-length feature, this could easily be a disaster for an experienced director, let alone a brand new one. He did a wonderful job though. He has such a way with reveling little things piece by piece, without giving to much away, but making you think that you have everything figured out. Then he hits you again with something new. What is great about this, is that it is never something to far fetched that it is unbelievable, it is just something that you probably didn't think about, even though all of the pieces were there for you to figure it out yourself if you looked close enough. This has been a talent of his throughout all of his films. I thought that the cuts in between the scenes could have been a bit smoother, but this is a directorial and debut, and a very low budgeted film, so I can't complain to much.

Another thing that I loved about the film is that it was filmed in black and white. Many people now a days are a bit turned off by black and white movies (my cousin's boyfriend being one of them :op). I feel that black and white movies force us to focus on the important aspects of the movie, the story. This generation of movie goers are so used to the special effects and how big the expectations are, but what they are forgetting is what is at the heart of every movie-The Story. I thought that this was a great choice for this particular film. There was nothing that was lost without color. You focused on the story and the characters.
What also amazed be about this movie was the focus of this idea of voyeurism. This movie was made in 1998, a few years before the Internet boom, and the insane blow up of social media. Cobb talks to Bill about how all people have a box that contains all of these intimate items, and that knowing someone has taken a look into this box, excites them a little. They don't really take much of anything, but they are observing and peaking....they are making judgements based on the things that they see displayed in their homes. I didn't think that this was very far off of what we all do in all of our social media outlets. I thought that aspect of the movie was the most interesting.  
All in all this was a great start for Nolan's career. You can see different things that he was playing around tired to perfect with his later films. Memento has many of the story telling tricks that he used in this one. If you are a Christopher Nolan fan at all, this is a must see. The acting is nothing special, but for me it really didn't need to be. If you appreciate Alfred Hitchcock at all, this is also a must see. I think that is definitely has many remnants of his film style as well. Watch it from a distance, quietly at first, and then feel yourself become lost in a world you never intended to be in.