There are many filmmakers who have risen to the notoriety that reaches those outside the film industry. The list of filmmakers that anyone would recognize contains Quentin Tarantino, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, and several others, including English filmmakerChristopher Nolan.
Throughout his career,Christopher Nolanhas been a huge component of some of the most well-known and successful films of the last decade. Aside from superhero films includingThe Dark Knighttrilogy, many of Nolan’s films share a common component. Of the stories Nolan has crafted, many of his films play with the conception of time.
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Some of Nolan’s most infamous time-oriented films includeMemento, Inception, Interstellar, Dunkirk,andTenet. Except forMemento, all of these films havewon at least one Academy Award. Even without an Academy Award,Mementoholds the highest rating on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer, only ranking second among all of Nolan’s films behindThe Dark Knight. Nolan deals with time in such an innovative fashion in so many of his films, butMementoremains his best time-bending narrative over 20 years after its premiere.
Mementostars Guy Pearce in the lead role of Leonard, a man with anterograde amnesia brought upon by an attack from two men that he recounts are responsible for the death of his wife. ThroughoutMemento, Nolan usesboth color and black-and-whitesequences to separate the progression of time. The scenes in color, work backward, while the black-and-white scenes move forward. In the color sequences, Nolan sprinkles in just enough information that explains the current state of Leonard’s investigation as he searches for the second man from his wife’s attack. All Leonard has been able to discover about the man’s identity is that he carries the initials J.G.
The basis ofMementomakes it relatively striking right off the bat. Its opening image of a polaroid reverting to its previous undeveloped state sets the stage for the story. It steadily begins to reveal the focal events that have led to the dead bodyseen in the photographthat Leonard keeps in his possession. Leonard is an odd protagonist partly due to his condition, which at times, makes him a rather unreliable narrator. He places his trust in scribbled notes, photographs, and the tattoos that litter his body as opposed to the people around him. For the most part, this system works for Leonard, but he struggles to fully trust anything because of his condition.
Unlike some of Nolan’s other films that deal with time,Mementodoesn’t revolve around a mission that impacts the state of the world.Mementoisa relatively grounded storyabout a man who seeks justice for wrongdoing committed against him and his family. Details that come to light suggest that the narrative is ultimately a result of his mind playing tricks on him because his memories are altered. On the other hand,InceptionandTenetboth feature a team sent on an extraordinary assignment to protect the world. Amidst their differences,Memento, Inception, andTenetall result in a few uncomfortable revelations for the main character. In fact,Inceptionends in a manner that is incredibly similar toMemento.
InInception, Cobb spins the totem of his late wife to determine if he is actually in reality or still in a dream. The top is meant to fall if Cobb has successfully returned to reality as opposed to being tucked away in another layer of a dream. However, Cobbdoesn’t stay to observe the final resultand greets his children, agreeing to live in blissful ignorance. Similarly, inMemento, after Leonard learns that Teddy’s real name carries the initials of J.G. and plans to kill him, Teddy reveals that he’s an undercover cop who helped Leonard with this crime over a year ago. Teddy insists that Leonard will never escape this cycle of hunting down J.G. and that Leonard’s memory of his wife’s death isn’t entirely accurate. Leonard refuses to believe Teddy’s admission and kills him, allowing the film to come full circle.
Nolan’s most recent addition to his list of time-oriented films,Tenet, also progresses forward and backward.Tenetintroduces the complicated process of inversion and the dangers that can accompany it if mishandled. UnlikeMemento,Tenet’sforward and backward progressionoften occurs at the same time, which can make certain scenes difficult to understand and follow. The rather ambiguous language used by the characters ofTenetdoesn’t help clarify most of this, even when their language is accompanied by explanations to tactical units who will carry out the dangerous missions. Specific details ofTenet’snarrative become a bit challenging to connect because of this, giving it a much more disjointed feel thanMemento.
Stylistically,Memento’suse of color andblack-and-white sequencesmake it much easier to understand the order in which everything is happening. By the film’s conclusion, the events fit into one another, forming a concise narrative that is easy to make sense of.Tenetdoesn’t leave viewers with the same feeling. Elements ofTenetcan be seen withinMemento, despite the films having release dates over 20 years apart. InMemento’sopening sequence, the bullet Leonard used to kill Teddy bounces back into his gun, much like the inverted bullets the Protagonist learns about inTenet.
Ultimately, what helps makeMementosuch a striking film over some of Nolan’s other time-based stories, is the way Nolan has constructed the narrative. There are notdozens of layers and intricate languageused to set the complicated scientific scene, much likeInceptionandTenet. The simplicity of the plot ofMementoonly becomes intricate through Nolan’s decision to tell the story as he had. Otherwise,Mementocould have been told in chronological order, but it certainly wouldn’t have been as impactful.
