To help us with ideas for our coursework and our own opening scene we watched a number of thrillers, one of which included the successful film "Memento" directed by Christopher Nolan. This thriller works by creating an air of suspense and mystery. As the name of the film rolls up onto the screen the impact of the one worded title has an effect on the audience, they immediately think of memory as a big factor in this film and something that has been lost yet may can still be restored in some way.
At first the opening scenes give a lot of confusion as they are played in an unusual backwards way, although after a while the audience soon seems to realise what is going on and is left waiting for Leonard to take his revenge on his wife's killer. I think that it is successful in a way as it makes us the audience feel just as confused as Leonard is.
The character of Leonard, in the mind of the audience is a sympathetic one as we discover his dilemma. He suffers from anterograde amnesia which means he has problems with remembering new memory although he is able to remember long term memory. To cope with this condition he is forced to write notes and tattoo these on himself in a bid to remember the important facts. Similar to a hero Leonard is on a mission to find his wife's killer and take revenge on whom this may be.
Although we feel sorry for Leonard it is also hard to trust him too, as he only remembers things before his accident it makes him a much vulnerable character susceptible to the dangers. Puzzled with the people he meets along his quest he will soon forget who they are to him reflecting in a way that could jeopardize all that he is living for.
Our first impressions of Teddy are uneasy. As he teases Leonard about his problem we take this as an offence and his reputation is immediately taken as a bad one. The audience feels that he is a threat to Leonard as we find out he is a possible suspect for his wife's murderer.
I feel that this film worked excellently in keeping the audience constantly on edge, which a thriller should do. The film includes many fast flash back scenes. In our piece we have used this idea and developed it. From walking around the mystery house a fast flash is shown of the young woman waking up in the basement and then again a fast pace shot cut from the sharpening of knives to the woman in the basement. As in "Memento" the character Leonard tattoos notes and facts onto his body in order to remember these important pieces of information, in our thriller the man carves numbers into his victims in order to remember how many he has killed.
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