Every end has a start

Rating: 8/10 (4 March 2016)

Every end has a start.
In this review, I would like to examine the game of colors and anti-chronological sequences of Memento that Christopher Nolan uses in order to make his film look like a puzzle the viewers have to reconstitute so that they understand the story.
Nothing being left to chance, quite a few sequences of the movie are in black and white, and some others are in color for only one reason : because the film is made of two parts. Sequences filmed in color are related to the main story and the plot whereas those filmed in black and white are placed in chronological order and inserted within the main story. That triggers confusion among viewers, since they have to memorize every sequences, every elements like an investigator in order to understand the denouement, not unlike Leonard Shelby, the main character, who has a poor memory because he was hit on the head. Thus he has to write post-its or get tattoos in order to remember everything. Confusion is inherently part of the editing job carried out for this movie, with the two parts of the film ending up merging into one another, and the end being right in the middle of the story. So every scenes is left to the own interpretation of viewers until the end.
Christopher tends to always make movies where every sequences gives a clue to understand the movie, like in one of his others films "Inception". However nobody notices it at first which is why his movies should be watched at least twice. The game of colors and the anti-chronological sequences allow us to enter the skin of the main character and feel every situation as if it was actually happening to us.