Memento - directed by Christopher Nolan - released in 2000.

Figure 1

Memento has a strong narrative about a man who has short-term memory loss. The film is based upon the story of Leonard (the man with memory loss) trying to find the person who killed his wife. From the beginning the audience are left questioning what is happening in the film for a very simple reason, it is played in reverse, this not only represents how Leonard feels but it also engages the audience and creates a situation that causes unease, as you start to become confused and forget what is happening. This narrative structure is cleverly used by Christopher Nolan as it makes the audience feel like the main character, which generates empathy and hooks the viewer in more. As Film 4 states Christopher Nolans audacious conceit necessitates the plot to run backwards, starting with Leonard killing the man he thinks is guilty and slowly revealing whether or not he picked the right target. (Film 4, 2000) The idea behind this is as the main character starts to unpick his own life we as an audience also get to find out you dont get any clues before the character does. Jay Boyar sums the film up quite accurately in his online review: You have to pay close attention to Memento, the most original thriller to come along in years -- and one of the best (Boyar, 2001) this is due to the structure mostly but also the content. Leonards way of remembering his actions is by tattooing facts and clues all over his body, which he then strengthens by documenting everything with Polaroid pictures that he then captions with sentences like dong believe his lies. As a audience if you miss part of this, a certain photo or a caption you get thrown off course again, missing a valuable part of whats going on this is once again a very clever technique by Nolan as it reinstates the connection that the viewer has to the main character.

Figure 2

Bibliography Film 4. 2000 - Available at: http://www.film4.com/reviews/2000/memento Jay Boyar 2001 - Available at http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/200104-20/entertainment/0104190431_1_memento-leonard-basic-information

Figure 1 N/A. (N/A). Memento. Available: http://flickfacts.com/movie/35/memento.

Figure 2 S. Stephens . (2012). DIRECTOR DISSECTION: CHRISTOPHER NOLAN MEMENTO (2000). Available: http://picinmotion.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/director-dissectionchristopher-nolan-memento-2000/.