Momento film analysis

‘Momento’ is a very unique film, in the sense that it is essentially reversed to create an effect that not only makes the viewer think, but also to break the rules of the Thriller genre. Throughout the film we gradually discover that what we saw at the beginning, was not what we thought to be the start, but in fact turns out to be the ending.

The creators have used two narratives in the film, which run throughout and show past and present, except we see them as the other way round in the film. The present is filmed in black and white, even though this would usually represent a flashback. The alternative narrative which is filmed as the present, but in fact is the past, is filmed in colour. This really gets the audience wondering about the film.

I think that the film has been shot in the peculiar way to represent Lennie’s frame of mind, which is distorted somewhat from reality.

The film uses deception throughout, not only in the characters but in the narrative itself, as it’s deceiving the audience from start to finish, ( or end to start ).

There is a lot of Non-diegetic sound in the scenes that I watched in class, but unlike other thrillers which use music that builds up tension, this does not. The music isn’t tense at all and creates no suspense whatsoever, but is still there for effect.