Our story is told in a different time lapse than any other film I've seen - what Nolan describes as alternating sequences: chronologically, 1-22 (the black-and-white scenes), and then in reverse, A-V (the color scenes). This split in edits is done perfectly throughout the film to create a sense of disorder for the viewer in order to relate to Leonard's condition of short-term memory loss.
An achievement of the totally confusing, backwards editing was extremely sufficient when the viewer finds out that our famous femme fatale Natalie, is THE femme fatale in our neo-noir film. We first see Leonard scrummaging for something (a pen, we later find out) and telling himself not to forget whatever just happened, as Natalie walks in, hurt and bloody. She was apparently hurt by drug dealer Dodd over some money. We see Natalie as weak and vulnerable as she is comforted by Leonard.
All is not as well as we think as we cut to what happened immediately before. Natalie walks into her home as Leonard is sitting at her coffee table. We cut to her closing the blinds as if someone is following her. That someone is the infamous Dodd. After a little explaining, Natalie requests that Leonard kill Dodd and he refuses. She begins to berate him, calling him a freak and reveals she will use him because he will forget everything she says. Leonard hits her, and she becomes bloody like she was in the scene prior. She walks out as Leonard is rummaging to find a pen to write down what just happened. And everything comes in full circle as we are introduced to the scene prior.
The choice to edit this scene relates to the idea of Leonard's obvious confusion throughout the film. We are introduced to what's happening just as Leonard is: without any background knowledge. And mixed in is a little climactic techniques to keep the viewer interested.
Throughout the film, I was highly intrigued by the black-and-white scenes because of their mystery. They're mixed in with full color sequences that would presumably be happening in real time. To create even more confusion, the color aspect is somewhat inverted, as black-and-white scenes are usually flashbacks, but in this case, they are the only scenes that occur in chronological order.
In one color scene, Leonard finds out Teddy is an undercover cop (named John G., mind you). Without a second watch, the viewer may not notice that in a following black-and-white scene (that actually happened before he finds
out Teddy is a cop), Leonard finds out the mysterious caller he has been talking to is, in fact, a cop. There's no explicit reveal like "Teddy is the man on the phone!!" but a basic understanding of structure will entail this. Leonard has no idea throughout the film that Lenny has been helping him this entire time, and neither does the viewer due to the use of inverted editing.
The editing is expert throughout this film, yet in one case, it could have been backed by a larger, more momentous plot event. The black-and-white scenes consistently tell of the sad life of Sammy Jenkis, who is used as a parallel to Leonard's own condition. In a manic attempt to prove Sammy can "snap out" of his sickness, his lost wife involuntarily overdoses on her insulin at the hands of Sammy. Towards the end of the film (in the beginning chronologically), Leonard is seen in Sammy's spot: in the hospital, giving insulin to his wife, etc.
Leonard IS Sammy, and his wife did not die because of the attack but because of the insulin overdose. The magnitude of this reveal seemed subpar in relation to the sensationalized quick-cuts of Leonard in Sammy's place. This should have been the biggest reveal of the movie, comparable to the reveal of the Narrator and Tyler Durden being the same person in Fight Club. Yet, I felt this was incredibly underplayed and not as important as the fact this movie is "totally crazy and backwards!!"
It is impossible to comprehend and. in succession, enjoy the film without at least semi-comprehension of this plot event, yet it could have been much more magnified - through dialouge instead of crazy, cool editing.
The choice to edit this scene relates to the idea of Leonard's obvious confusion throughout the film. We are introduced to what's happening just as Leonard is: without any background knowledge. And mixed in is a little climactic techniques to keep the viewer interested.
Throughout the film, I was highly intrigued by the black-and-white scenes because of their mystery. They're mixed in with full color sequences that would presumably be happening in real time. To create even more confusion, the color aspect is somewhat inverted, as black-and-white scenes are usually flashbacks, but in this case, they are the only scenes that occur in chronological order.In one color scene, Leonard finds out Teddy is an undercover cop (named John G., mind you). Without a second watch, the viewer may not notice that in a following black-and-white scene (that actually happened before he finds
out Teddy is a cop), Leonard finds out the mysterious caller he has been talking to is, in fact, a cop. There's no explicit reveal like "Teddy is the man on the phone!!" but a basic understanding of structure will entail this. Leonard has no idea throughout the film that Lenny has been helping him this entire time, and neither does the viewer due to the use of inverted editing.
Leonard IS Sammy, and his wife did not die because of the attack but because of the insulin overdose. The magnitude of this reveal seemed subpar in relation to the sensationalized quick-cuts of Leonard in Sammy's place. This should have been the biggest reveal of the movie, comparable to the reveal of the Narrator and Tyler Durden being the same person in Fight Club. Yet, I felt this was incredibly underplayed and not as important as the fact this movie is "totally crazy and backwards!!"
It is impossible to comprehend and. in succession, enjoy the film without at least semi-comprehension of this plot event, yet it could have been much more magnified - through dialouge instead of crazy, cool editing.
No comments:
Post a Comment