Neither. An interesting premise that he handles well. A very good film that may be worth a second viewing.
He seems to have the clinical details down pretty well but the film doesn’t extend to any wider truth.
I wish more critics and reviewers who write about a film that uses reverse chronology would cite Peppermint Candy as a notable precursor, instead of Memento (as they were released in the same year, I believe). Just my thought. To answer your question – well, I’ve yet to see Memento. I guess the question to ask is, am I missing out?
Not either, in my opinion. A damn good film whose gimmick causes it to work less well on the 2nd time around. Rather than be illuminated by the reveal, this films enjoyment/moral exists only when you watch the film with full confusion. Therefore, I don’t think it holds up as any kind of masterwork, but its a very entertaining and quality Hollywood thriller.
Reverse chronology was used in a relatively mainstream film at least as early as David Hugh Jones’s adaption of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (1983). Strictly speaking, of course, Memento is only partly reverse chronology, with the color sequences moving in countermotion to the black-and-white sequences, while something like Peppermint Candy is purer reverse chronology.
The question, I think, is this: if one were to take away its unusual narrative structure, is Memento more than a relatively well-executed neo-noir (along the lines of John Dahl’s early films)? and, if so, does the narrative structure elevate it beyond being just that? and, if so, how exactly?
Just wish the far east would get some more recognition, that’s all =p
^ Absolutely.
this is funny because i actually tried watching this movie again last night, but realized i was not in the mood for a a movie that relies on a level of confusion to make the plot work. i think that it is a great film but it uses the first view-method to make the gimmick work, so after two to three views you are spent.
nonetheless, i think memento is a great film and definitely Guy Pearce’s best film to date. Nolan hit the nail on the head with this film and definitely made the art of out of sync storytelling something that was interesting again.
If you see MEMENTO as being in even remotely the same league as RASHOMON, you need to sit down calmly, take a stress pill, and think things over.
MEMENTO is a skillfully made little movie that folks have managed to blow up into some kind of profound statement about something or other. Extravagantly overrated, like Nolan’s entire tiresome output.
RASHOMON, well. An eternal masterwork that never gets stale, that takes on essential ideas of truth and perception and manages to deal with them in a thoughtprovoking and intelligent way.
There’s nothing really wrong with Memento, but it does rely on a recurring plot device though this is explained by the narrative it’s an acknowledged gimmick by Nolan himself. There’s no glorifying it, it is what it is. It’s a good film, but I’m much more in favour of his debut film Following. Now THAT’S a film! Certainly not overrated and certainly not tiresome.
Pearce’s best film? Meh, it’s not his worst film, but for me, Ravenous is Pearce’s best film … just sayin’.
Simply awful film all around, in my opinion.
hold on!
I never said Memento was anywhere near the greatness of Rashomon
BUT i think that Memento is the best examination on truth SINCE Rashomon
Rashomon is my third favorite film of all-time, you dont have to tell me how great it is
also, I think its structure allows the film to pull the rug out from the viewer and make the viewer question “What is real?”
Ive seen it four times and it has gotten better, and better, and better
I think it deserves a rewatching for the little details that are tough to pick up the first viewing or two
Masterpiece, especially from an editorial aspect.
Well, saying that MEMENTO is the best examination of truth since RASHOMON suggests that you put MEMENTO at the same level as RASHOMON, I’d say. I don’t see that MEMENTO is much of anything but a nice little thriller with a fairly novel structure.
This Nolan Worship is really getting out of hand.
I do not “Nolan Worship”
however, I do give credit where credit is due
ive thought this way about memento before inception came out and ive like it since before the dark knight
its more than a thriller, its a psychological thriller thats highly philosophical
and Memento is nowhere near the greatness that Rashomon is
and if you assume that i imply they are the same quality, youd have to be a dumbass
“I’d say” you are talking out of ass, Roscoe
Overall it’s a mediocre film, at best. If this film is “highly philosophical” I suppose that term can be applied to any film ever made, seeing as Memento presents nothing but the most superficial “philosophical” ideas possible, and doesn’t even do a coherent job of exploring them. But in the “reverse chronology” film structure the aforementioned Peppermint Candy is leagues ahead of anything Nolan has ever even attempted. I’d take five minutes from Changdong’s film over Nolan’s entire shallow oeuvre.
why does it have to be one or the other.
I would call it Clean Slate without the laughs (tho that is also how I refer to Clean Slate)
Dude, thinking that MEMENTO is a serious examination of “truth” is the real ass talk.
Enjoy.
People are taking Nolan way too seriously here. He makes popcorn movies (or genre films if that sounds more respectable.) At this point in time, he’s doing them better than anyone else. His films are meticulously crafted and way smarter than his contemporaries, but they are mass market entertainments (not that there’s anything wrong with that.)
Memento is a neo-noir. It deals with the great noir themes of the flawed hero, the femme fatale, and impending doom. Its backwards story structure is a fully successful effort to take the noir formula and provide an original twist on it. It also deals with the nature of memory from a fresh perspective (popcorn movies are allowed to have ideas), but its still noir to its bone.
I’d apply everything I just said to Inception as well. Just replace noir with science-fiction and memory with dreams.
hey, better yet! why don’t we just all say that they owe a deby to Ambrose Pierce and call it a night?
….or is that too easy?
Memento is nifty, but Following is where the praise should be heaped (no, not Inception either, though that one’s nifty, too).
Memento has the benefit of its gimmick actually being meaningful to the character and not just a ploy.
-why don’t we just all say that they owe a deby to Ambrose Pierce and call it a night-
Even the Sanskrit epics have frame stories and flashbacks, so, if we’re looking for sui generis . . .
RASHOMON, well. An eternal masterwork that never gets stale, that takes on essential ideas of truth and perception and manages to deal with them in a thoughtprovoking and intelligent way.
Rashomon is as subject to hyperbolic praise as anything of Nolan’s, as you so generously evidenced in your post.
It’s all gimmick, I found it impossible to take any interest whatsoever on second viewing, once you get what it’s doing it’s utterly empty.
“Rashomon is as subject to hyperbolic praise as anything of Nolan’s, as you so generously evidenced in your post.”
Where does one come up with such insight? Yes, Bruce everything can be subject to overpraise, thank you for that. I don’t know how we would have continued without your contribution.
Kurosawa is, in my opinion, an overpraised director, but he made at least five or six films that could easily be placed among the greatest works in cinema. Christopher Nolan is hyped as much as Kurosawa (he’s even being mentioned in the same sentence with him as making films just as important as Kurosawa’s!), but is as shallow as a mud puddle after a summer rain. Roscoe’s indignation is absolutely understandable, and his praise for Rashmon is too, even if I think it’s a mediocre film.
How about…just a good movie. Well written
I loved Memento when it was first released. A few years later I begin to think that it was just a gimmick so I watched it again. To my surprise what makes Memento so amazing was not the way it goes backwards but the way it conveys the main characters mental chaos. The B&W flash backs are really something and there are so many questions about what is real and what is not. Nolan has used the same themes in what could be called his Magician Trilogy: Memento, The Prestige and Inception.
PS
Of those three Inception is probablly the weakest.
Rashomon is one of Kurosawa’s worst films, although I wouldn’t quite call it mediocre.
How can a guy be overpraised if he has made 5 or 6 of the greatest films in cinema(Seven Samurai, Throne of Blood, High and Low, Red Beard, and Ran)? People get tired of Kurosawa, like the Yankees, because he is so good, but it doesn’t make him any less good.
Because five films (Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Dersu Uzala, Dodes’ka-den, and The Lower Depths) don’t make up for an incredibly uneven oeuvre otherwise. Ranging from good to mediocre and downright terrible.
I mean The Most Beautiful is one of the worst films I’ve ever seen from Japan, as is The Idiot, Dreams, and Kagemusha_. And other than those five films most of the rest of his career is pretty mediocre with only a couple bright spots (_High and Low, Rhapsody in August, Madadayo, and High and Low).
It is fantastic. I don’t think we can claim it a masterpiece until Nolan’s career is up though. It’s hard to pick one out from an artist who makes such good films. I love Memento, but I enjoyed Inception more just because it stepped onto new grounds….oh yeah and Marion is fucking FINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNE
Jason Miller
I personally think this film is a masterpiece and is the best examination of truth since Rashomon. Do you think that this method of storytelling is crucial in making this movie a masterpiece, or is the narrative just made to distract the viewer from a lack of substance?
what do you think?