PERFORMANCE PERSPECTIVES

"Memento"
DEALING WITH THE STORY

It's difficult to write about "Memento" without giving things away for even the fact that the story is told backwards is a particularly engaging and surprising element for the audience. "Memento" is a story about a man who has no short-term memory and therefore can never remember what it is that he has just done. In telling the story backwards the film successfully keeps the audience suspended in a similar state of mind to the character for as you examine each moment of the plot it is never known what circumstances precipitated the situation.

Challenges for the Actor
This story structure creates a unique situation for the actor and GUY PEIRCE has handled these circumstances extremely well. This challenging approach to storytelling creates a situation where although (as usual) the actor needs to know how the scene and story are unfolding the character has little understanding of what is really happening at any moment and has no idea of the events which proceeded it. Usually it is essential for an actor to build a prior history for a character because in real life most of our choices of the moment are based on our experiences in the past. In this case, because of his loss of memory Lennie Shelby (GUY PIERCE) has no immediate pre-history and is always dealing in isolation with the present. In fact in this story Lennie's previous experience is divided into two sections:

1. The immediate past he can't remember "if we talk for too long, I'll forget how we started and next time I see you I'm not going to remember this conversation."
2. The distant past (he explains) he can remember

Thus each moment of this character's life is like a random scene from a play being given to an actor without any knowledge being supplied about the context. It is therefore very interesting to see whether a character built without any significant pre-history can provide a performance which is real, complex and engaging for the audience. GUY PIERCE'S performance stands tall as a clear example of how much depth the simple basics of playing "need"/intention/objective can bring to a character. Although a pre-history we know is an exceptionally useful tool for the actor this film seems to demonstrate that it is not an essential.

A Limiting Process
Of course the circumstances of this story significantly limit the range of "needs" open to GUY. So Lennie's need might just be - "to understand" - because he is constantly being confronted by circumstances that surprise him. Sometimes because the journey is a dangerous one Lennie's "need" is probably "to survive". But it could also be argued that Lennie's "need" is "to be in control" because his life's circumstances make it constantly difficult for him to achieve this.

Whatever way the viewer looks at the manifestations of GUY'S process the palate he is using is a very limited one. And so it is interesting to see if the scale of the performance is limited by this - and it quickly becomes clear that it isn't. This unusual film provides clear advocacy for the efficiency and productiveness of the most basic elements of the performance process. Very simple needs can very clearly carry an actor comfortably through a complicated film without deficiency. And what is more in this case it does it with only limited support from the further complexity that back story usually brings to the actor's understanding of the character.

The other aspect of GUY'S performance which is terrific is his dealing with the unknown. His moments of surprise are very very good. It is possible that this comes in part from his preparation for playing the character and for coping with the lack of knowledge Lennie has of the past - he always has to work things out in the moment. Lennie says "It's like waking … like you just woke up" and that would seem to be a fabulous description of how the beginning of a moment of surprise should be for the actor and the character. So perhaps informed by this concept GUY'S moments of surprise, whether they be big or small are rich in exploration and assessment.

So, in terms of exploring actor's process this film provides another fine example of an essential tool of trade. A successful moment of surprise is significantly based on the lack of anticipation or the unexpectedness of the intrusion. Surprises which start from that basis (a lack of expectation) play well for the actor and GUY'S performance provides an elegant argument in support of that theory. Viewing GUY'S performance in this film and analyzing its success is an immensely useful exercise for any actor. It is fabulously instructional to see how strongly he succeeds supported only by purpose and surprise, and without significant input from back story.

Note: It is not known whether GUY PIERCE uses this specific approach to his process but what ever way he goes about it the ultimate outcome is the same. There are many diverse ways of arriving at the same destination but being able to play a psychologically based sub-textural "need" for a character is by far the quickest way of achieving the best results

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