Memento-a theory

Critic J. Hoberman has described MEMENTO as a "meta-noir," rather than "neo-noir," a fitting term for a film that initially places us in exactly the same position as its lead character, coming far closer than Mike Figgis' TIME CODE to being genuinely interactive. Whether intentionally or not, MEMENTO reeks of the influence of watching films on TV, interrupted by commercials, and on video, where they can be interrupted and restarted at will. For its first third, the black & white and color scenes even follow each other with the rhythm of a TV show and its commercial breaks. Most of the color sequences begin with Leonard trying to get his bearings. In one, he finds himself with a bottle of booze in his hand, trying to figure out if he's drunk or not. In another, he's in the midst of a chase, but he doesn't know whether he's its object or the pursuer. His quest progresses hand in hand with the audience's attempts to make sense out of a convoluted text. Eventually, we know far more about Leonard than he knows about himself, but the final third's speedy pacing and dense plotting attempt to position us again in his drift and uncertainty. Without overtly criticizing the media, MEMENTO echoes postmodern theory about the loss of reality under the weight of images and words.