Memento Anaylsis

The opening to Memento when the photo was shaken, until all the blood has disappeared. Already the audience are wondering what the narrative is about. Also the blue thumb on the photo could show that Lenny is already dead, as the blood flow around his body is poor. The mise-en-scene of this opening shows it could be psychological, also straight off you could interpret this film as a documentary of how Lenny lives his life.
The sound is non-diegetic as its music playing in the background, at the start its slow tempo music. This creates tension, increasing the audiences suspense as they are wondering what will happen next.

As the film is in a non-linear format, this again shows that the film could be classed as a documentary. The reason for this is the use of flashbacks, which occur in documentaries to show the audience how they coped with day to day activities. Lenny is in the same position as he cant remember any new memories since he saw his wife get killed. When Lenny has a backlash the sequence will be in a dark colour, this resembles to the audience that Lenny is remembering what happened in the past. The editing between the back flashes and reality are successfully executed with various techniques, some are straight cuts that go straight to the next shot. Others are fade to the next shot, these are useful for when Lenny is on the phone talking and in the middle of him talking it goes to the back flash.

Lenny could be classed as a typical character in a psychological thriller the reason for this is because he's relaxed and reserved. Whether the reason for this is because he can't remember long enough ago to be cautious is another matter. The intertextuality of this film could be reffered to with The Butterfly Effect, as the main character in that film will randomly blank out. When Lenny can't remember what happens for example when he talks to the Discount Inn Owner, he can not recall speaking to the owner before. As a result he repeats himself, but his whole life is about repetition and sequence.
As he can't look after himself without all these notes around his room, and tattoos for information that he never wants to forget. He lives in a Discount Inn as the audience at the start of the film you think that Lenny isn't very wealthy or rich. But the reason for him living there was because he is too scared to live on his own. He probably wouldn't be able to cope with the daily chores of the household, as he wouldn't be able to remember to do all the jobs.