Christopher Nolan Movies: Ranking The Rug-Pull Moments

2. John G (Memento)

Daring to be different, Memento's defining feature is its backward narrative, opening with the chronologically final scene and subsequently tracing itself back to establish reasons why events unfold as they do. However the film's mechanics are far more complicated than this when considering the intermittent black and white scenes that progress both on a parallel and at an opposite to the main plot, only to converge further down the line. It is due to the structural intricacy of Memento, and the audience's consequential effort to get their head around it, that Nolan can hide his plot twists in a story that, when played out chronologically, is not nearly as complex as it makes out to be. It transpires that cinematic-level amnesiac Leonard Shelby - a man unable to form memories since an injury sustained in an attack that also left his wife raped and murdered - had already avenged his partner with the killing of several John Gs, only to deliberately leave no trace of the acts and go on to forget they ever occurred. By moving backwards in time, Nolan identifies that the real twist comes from the flawed, yet fundamental motive of Shelby's investigation - that he's in denial and guilty of extreme confirmation bias. Of all Nolan's plot twists, this is unique in the sense that the twist shapes the story rather than finding itself as a plot resolution and this could only have been achieved through the canny utilisation of a backward storytelling. This exemplifies Nolan's justification for using such a technique and proves that it is far more than an art-house gimmick.