Memento, in
my eyes, was an incredible adaptation.
It managed to take the concept from the short story, and presented it in
a way that was far more engaging than the source. Though the short story is still fantastic,
the film’s odd progression created a longer lasting experience for the viewer.
One thing I
found to be one of the most entrancing features of the film, was the backwards
progression. The experience would be
completely different if presented in chronological order. It’s not just that it forces you to pay closer
attention, or that it takes advantage of your impressions, but it also helps
make Leonard more relatable. I’d like to
start by looking at Natalie’s character specifically; our first impression of
her would have been completely different in chronological order. Taking a look at the clip below, what do you
think of her? She has a few jokes that
seem mean spirited, but overall she comes off as a sympathetic person that
could be trusted. As we learn by the end
of the film, that is far from the case.
Did anyone have a negative first impression of Natalie? Since we’re thrown into the events, we don’t
know what to think, which gives the movie more power to shatter our
expectations.
I think the
out of order progression also added to the experience by throwing us helplessly
into the middle of things. Since we
don’t really know what’s happened leading up to what’s going on, we’re in a
similar position as Leonard. The only
advantage we’re given is that we figure out the context of the previous scene
by the end of the current scene. We’re
slowly able to piece the entire story together, which Leonard isn’t really able
to do. Because we are in a similar
position as Leonard, it’s easier to sympathize with him. Look back at the clip with Natalie, like
Leonard we don’t really know who she is, but we have no choice other than to
trust her since Leonard does. We put
faith into Leonard since we don’t know any different. By the end though, clip provided below, we
find out that maybe he isn’t as reliable as we thought. We’re left unsure what to believe about
Leonard. Now imagine if we saw that
sooner? In chronological order, that
would have taken place somewhere in the middle.
Would you have trusted Leonard in chronological order?
There are
many other things that I think made the film more interesting, but does anyone
have any reasons they felt were more prevalent?
Does anyone feel the short story was better? Or are there any disagreements with my thoughts?
