Memento and Film Noir

Genre

Nolan's Memento has many elements that could easily be considered a characteristic of film noir. "The narratives of film noirs are usually characterised as complex- often confusing- and as frequently entailing the use of flashbacks and first person voice-over narration" (Steve Neale, Genre and Hollywood, p166). The final scene sees Lenny driving away from the murder (of Jimmie), coupled with the non-diegetic dialogue as Lenny talks about how he is no different to everyone else, this scene follows the pattern of the rest of the film as the final part carries on to the beginning of the previous scene which does make the plot confusing for most of the entire film.

Film noirs are also notable for their dark colours and harsh lighting, however, "along with the dark, shadowy aesthetics, of the 1940’s films, Memento uses an abundance of bright, white light- equally overwhelming, and equally mesmerising." (http://neonoircultfilms.wordpress.com/memento/) Leonard is shown wearing a light suit and hardly ever seen in dark shadowing for a long time, this is because he lives his life in the moment is is not able to be devious or conceal his plans. He lives in a bright world with an abundance of information that he cannot even dream of remembering.