Memento Linear Structure

The Film Memento is composed of a series of color segments that moves the viewer backward through time. The other thread consists of segments shot in black and white that move the viewer forward through time. Towards the end of the film, the audience discovers that, with respect to the chronology of the plot, the point in time at which the black-and-white segments end is the point in time at which the color segments begin. Nolan uses a non-linear structure to tell a story in non-chronological order.
The way Memento was edited is what makes this film different from other films. Because the film has a non-linear structure it is told backwards with scenes jumping back in fifteen-minute increments of story time. This happens until the end of the film meets the beginning of the Leonard’s story. Everything in color is in a reverse order sequence plot and each scene indicates fifteen minutes of story time, which is how long Leonard’s memory lasts. The reverse order sequence scenes make up the main plot of Leonard’s investigation to find the man who killed his wife. These scenes are separated by shorter scenes of black and white scenes in chronological order that make up one sub-plot in which Leonard is continually talking on the phone to a mysterious cop. This sub-plot reveals the story of Sammy
Tubrett explains “The black and white motel spaces form a metaphoric foundation of self for Leonard (it is his empty mind--a space of anonymity and transition): cut off and secure from the rest of the chaotic and unknown world; explaining his past and his theory on how he productively functions (Tubrett, par 3). These black and white sequences, opposed to the rest of the film, seem to exist in a non-space, the space of Leonard's mind, where he examines his files and tattoos--his mementoes. This is where what Leonard is doing gets