The Story Archive

Memento

Christopher Nolan · 2000 CE · Film · Modern / American · Contemporary

A former insurance investigator who cannot form new memories since the assault that killed his wife hunts the second attacker using Polaroids, margin notes and tattoos, trusting a bartender and a man in a cheap suit because his own handwriting tells him to. The colour scenes run backwards against a monochrome line running forwards. Made for around four and a half million dollars, it found a distributor only after festivals.

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Attributes

Genre
Crime / NoirPsychologicalMystery
Theme
Memory & TimeJustice & RevengeIdentity & SelfGuilt & Conscience
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Anti-HeroAvengerTrickster
Plot structure
Nonlinear / FracturedUnreliable NarratorRevenge Cycle
Symbol / motif
The MirrorThe PortraitThe Wound
Conflict
vs Selfvs Person
Mode / tone
NoirIronic
Culture / tradition
Modern / American

Closest analogues