Friday, December 6, 2013

An Unsatisfying Conclusion


I love figuring out the end of movies before they happen. Piecing together subtle plot details is what keeps me interested. Similarly, I enjoy television shows like CSI, NCIS, Bones, etc. Mystery intrigues me. I love to recognize facts that others tend to miss. For me, there is nothing better than watching a confusing movie and assembling all of the disparate pieces before the director wants me to. For this reason I found Memento both brilliant and infuriating.

The last few scenes of Memento caught me by surprise, but in doing so, brought the entire movie together. That is, if I believe Teddy. However, after being manipulated for the entirety of the film, and being repeatedly told not to believe Teddy’s lies, how can I let myself trust what he says? It bothers me that by the end of the movie I am still left with a number of unanswered questions. Do I trust Teddy and appreciate the complex manipulation that is occurring from every character, or do I trust Leonard who either thinks, or convinces himself that Teddy is lying? The movie was brilliant because it was intellectually challenging, and it was infuriating because I couldn’t figure it out.

Memento is different than what I am used to seeing in other movies. It doesn’t tie every little detail together in the end, or answer all of the questions brought up in the film. The director makes it impossible to not question yourself. Switching back and forth in time, and contradicting facts, made me feel like Leonard: always questioning reality and separating fact from fiction. Because of the strategic setup, you can never truly have satisfying answers. Everything we are presented with can be undermined in some way, so we are only left with the ability to make assumptions. I think this setup made the movie interesting, but also frustrating because it did not follow the pattern I am used to seeing in most movies: a satisfying conclusion.

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