Memento is about a man with anterograde amnesia who is trying to find his wife's murderer. The story is told in two timelines, one moving forward and one backward, to reveal different aspects of the plot. The film is classified as a mystery and noir genre due to its dark tone, use of black and white, and an ambiguous protagonist. Viewers must focus on key details to piece together the plot, making repeat viewings a different experience. The main actors are Guy Pearce as the protagonist and Carrie-Anne Moss as a femme fatale who complicates his investigation.

1. Memento

2. What is it about?
• Memento is about am ex-insurance
investigator who can’t build new memories as
he attempts to discover the murderer of his
wife, which was his last memory. One story-
line is revealed moving forward in time, whilst
the other story-line moves backwards
revealing different aspects at each time.

3. Genre
• Memento is classified as a mystery and noir film, this is because of the
different aspects that have been included in the film.
• For example, there is essence of noir due to the fact that the film is
gloomy and the characters used in the film portray this. Aspects of black
and white effects are used, specifically for the scenes based in the past.
The protagonist is quite ambiguous. By this, we mean that he has one
reason in the film which is to kill but we still understand his sense of
justice and relate to his constant disorientation. A femme fatale (seductive
attractive woman) is used in the film, Natalie, who is a poor beaten
woman which Leonard helps only to find out she is a cause of many
problems in his life. The ending isn’t very conclusive and isn’t happy either,
which also fits into the Noir element.

4. Your Thoughts/review
• The end of the film made me reflect on the
rest of the film and previous scenes to tie the
plot together. This personally made the film
good in my eyes and it requires focus on
certain points to personally tie the plot
together yourself. Watching the film a second
time would be a totally different experience
and would enable the audience to pick up on
certain points and things along the way that
add the the plot coming together.

5. Actors/directors
• Protagonist: Guy Pearce – Leonard
• Carrie Ann Moss – Natalie
• Joe Pantoliano – Teddy
• Mark Boone Junior – Burt
• Director: Christopher Nolan

6. Interesting Facts
• The Nolan brothers came up with the idea while on a
road trip.
• Jonathan Nolan published a short story version of
the film after its release.
• Christopher Nolan originally wanted a bigger star for
the main role.
• Memento did not take long to make
• Tobolowsky actually had amnesia.

7. Textual Analysis
• Newmarket films was the film company that
produced and distributed Memento. They
have also distributed films such as Prom Night
and Donnie Darko. All these three films have
correlation, due to the fact that they all have
the same mystery and all have similar plots
with the way murder is involved.