'Memento' & 'Irreversible'

Two very similar movies made two years apart in two different countries.

Their common thread is not the story, but how it's prevented.

Memento chronicles a day in the life of Leonard, a former insurance man, who was knocked unconcious by home invaders, who were in the process of raping and murdering his wife.

When he awoke, he was then unable to make new memories, which forced him to write notes constantly, take Polaroid pictures and tattoo "facts" on his bad. All the while, he's searching for the man (or men) responsible for his wife's death. All the while, others are manipulating him based on his supposed disability. Of course, we never learn what is real, what's manipulated or whether or not Leonard is just lying to himself.

Oh, and the entire film is presented in reverse. It goes backwards. Although the end of the story (the first scene) still works and the beginning of the story still works as an end. It's a cinematic palindrome -- it spells the same thing either way.

Irreversible is a French film that I first heard about when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. How do you hear about a French film going to college in East Texas?

Well, the film was so violent and violently filmed, that attendees left the screening.

Yes, the first fives minutes are the most nauseating five minutes in film history. It's the fiancee and friend of Alex hunting down her attackers. Of course, we don't know why they're doing this. In fact, we don't know Alex, how she was attacked or who these guys are.

They end up bashing someone's head in with a fire extinguisher in the most devastating 40 seconds in filmdom.

Like Memento, the film proceeds backwards. The difference is that Irreversible doesn't stand up like Memento. It's really just a film set to go backwards.

The hardest part of making these films is the decision, first, to make this film backwards. Then there's the storyboarding and maintaining the consistency throughout the film, especially Memento, a film where the story is continous and doesn't jump from once scene, one time and another. The scene melts directly into the next. Except backwards.