***** This email has MAJOR SPOILERS for Memento so don't even think about reading if you haven't seen the film. * * * * * * * * * * * * * >Re: the Memento DVD - why didn't they include a "remix," so we could >watch the movie in chronological order? It seems like an obvious move - >several people I talked to after seeing it all specifically mentioned There aren't any other DVD versions currently scheduled which also means no director's commentary; what might happen further down the road, though, who knows? There's a rumor that the Canadian DVD has a "hidden" option for a chronological ordering but I haven't found any confirmation of that yet. (& you could create your own rough remix if DVD players allowed you to rearrange tracks like CD players do--perhaps some do but mine doesn't.) It seems to me that a chronological rearrangement of the film would work against the themes (the unreliability of memory is explicitly stated but it's also about the nature of images & communication, the construction of personality/character, the purposes of violence) and nearly all the dramatic tension, making it fairly pointless even as a curiosity. The start of the internal story is the B&W phone conversation with flashbacks about Sammy which strung together would make a slow start to the film. But if it begins with Leonard killing the drug dealer and then Teddy telling Leonard that his wife has already been avenged then we get the payoff before the setup. The existing film is structured so that situations are subject to constant revision: the woman in distress who is anything but, the man Leonard chases who in fact is chasing him, the innocent drink that's actually a test, even something as basic as Teddy being the murderer but maybe not. It also has some of the more conventional mysteries that are resolved later in the film: where did he get that car & clothing, what was the burned photo originally, who is the man in the closet? Put in story order these become elements of a more routine revenge drama with a gimmick. At the start of Memento Leonard seems like your standard man on a quest but by the end he's clearly somebody constantly manipulated and cheated; in story order you would start by seeing a confused, distrustful Leonard who just gets bounced around for the remaining time. (There's also an interesting idea here about the alterability of films: Formerly mostly film buffs/scholars were the only ones really interested in multiple versions (or who even knew they existed) but today anybody can watch films in rated, unrated or director's cuts; full-frame or letterboxed; or with deleted scenes and director's commentary further eroding the sense of a completed, cohesive work. The Terminator 2 DVD for example offers three different edits of the film plus piles of supplemental material. I made the mistake of watching the deleted scenes to Out of Sight immediately after the film and now have memories that some of that was actually in the finished film.) >Memento is a version of what I call "Flashback as Case History' There's also a difference in Memento with the infamous "subliminal" shots. Without them, the flashbacks would be more of a long-winded explanation relating to the main story but not really part of it. However since these shots indicate that Leonard might actually be Sammy (the one that makes this most explicit--Sammy in the institution changing into Leonard--lasts for five frames on the DVD: a sixth of a second) only then do the flashbacks become case history *of* the protagonist. But then these subliminals (they actually aren't since the shots are noticable) might also be fantasy images that don't change anything. This is where I start to think Memento may be a bit too tricky for what it's trying to do. By chance I'd seen the Japanese film Perfect Blue a few days earlier and that film's mirrored, unsolvable narrative seems much more radical to me. Memento at times feels like a diversion along the lines of a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle, just get the right approach and it all fits, while Perfect Blue presents two narrative interpretations where *neither* can account for everything. ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]