How Does Nolan Use Flashbacks In Memento

Christopher Nolan’s extraordinary film, Memento, was released in 2000. The film starts in typical noir style, murder, which is projected in reverse. Nolan distinctly divides the story into two different plot lines, color sequences run in reverse while black and white sequences that are flashbacks are chronological, this part sets the narration apart from the rest of the story and gives a documentary feel. The settings throughout the film consist of a washed-out out California scenery of motels and abandoned warehouses. Memento follows the story of Leonard Shelby who was an insurance investigator who is determined to hunt down the mysterious man who he thinks rapped and killed his wife known as John G. Leonard has a brain injury that makes him …show more content…
Nolan uses the more unconventional way of using flashbacks. There are flashbacks within both the black-and-white and color scenes throughout the film. These flashbacks are used as a tool to reveal information about Leonard or about the story. For example one visual clue given in a flashback is when there is memory of Leonard punching his wife’s leg, but in the same scene showed again it’s him giving an insulin shot to her. This scene implies that Jankis is not the one who killed his wife with insulin overdoes, but Leonard did. With these hints from the flashbacks the viewer can decipher what they believe based on the visual clues they are …show more content…
Nolan uses lighting, editing, colors, costumes, set and props, which have solid noir origins. Memento makes heavy use of chiaroscuro lighting throughout the film. The lighting in the black and white scenes is typical of a noir film. For example, the motel room is poorly lit casting shadows across Leonard’s face; the right side is in shadow while the left is clearly lit creating a split in lighting. Nolan also uses this lighting on Natalie, showing the splitting of the darkness and lightness to convey that there are two sides to her that the viewer is uninformed