Buckland-Warren-Puzzle-Films-Complex-Storytelling-Contemporary-Cinema

Film Form and Mnemonic Devices in Memento 95scenes. The black and white scenes present a continuous event, interruptedby the changes of sequence. The color sequences show a flow of events (e)that moves backward (e-1, e-2, etc.):[C1(e) + BW1 + C2(e-1) + BW2 + C3(e-2) + ...→Two strings of events, in black and white and in color, are linked togetherby the crosscutting editing, but they are not meant to be simultaneous. Theyhave two different time directions: chronological in black and whitescenes, reversed in color sequences. The fact that black and white scenesinterrupt the color sequences creates an effect of interference: while we haveto keep in mind the actions of the color sequence, a black and white scenewipes out our working memory and attracts our focus of attention. As thesubsequent color sequence appears, it is difficult to remember the previousone. In other films that adopt a backward narration, such as Betrayal(by David Hugh Jones, 1983; based on Harold Pinter’s play) or Irréversible(by Gaspar Noé, 2002), this effect is not present, because the sequences areconnected to one another, and one can reflect on the causal relationshipexisting between them. In Memento the script is designed to create confusionin the viewer: beyond the crosscutting of two opposite time streams,we can notice that the average length of black and white scenes (except forthe last two) is less than a minute, while color sequences (except for thelast one) are from one to six minutes long. Such a fragmentation produces22 black and white scenes and 23 color sequences which are systematicallyalternated. In addition, in the black and white part we find abrupt interruptionsof action, which prevent the possibility of a plain reconstruction,and in the color part continuous actions are cut into two or three parts:it happens with Dodd’s chase, Ferdy’s bar, City Grill, the hooker and thederelict building scenes (two parts), and with Natalie’s home and Dodd’sroom (three parts). This partition creates confusion because in order toreorder the color line of actions we have to recollect similar segments whichcan muddle, overlap, or be exchanged, and which appear as bewilderingelements.The Matching ShotsSuch unusual and elaborate construction demands several points of control,to confirm the temporal or causal relationships. For this reason, each