2 Brilliant Movies

Two very different movies, but I loved the same thing about each: The form of the movie matched the content...The way 'reality' was presented made you identify with or at least empathize with the main characters..

1. Memento - a recommendation from a really interesting person from church named David. The man in Memento has an injury that has made him unable to form new memory. He relies on notes, and photographs, and logic to piece together and make meaning of his life. His memory fails him about every 5-15 minutes, and he is left to start over...

The movie tells the story 5 minutes at a time, and with each scene in reverse order, giving you overlapping details to give you a point of reference. You observe his notes and photographs, and scars, and scenery, and other details that are revealed, to try and piece the plot together.

It occurred to me that, because of how the story is told, you are dealing (in a small way) with the exact problem the main character has --- trying to make meaning of it all with only 5 minute-long chunks of data, which start bewilderingly fresh every 5 minutes (because it's going in reverse order. Every five minutes you are given information that you have no point of reference for.)

2. Requiem of a Dream -

(Note: this is the most intense movie I've seen in a while, and I can't recommend it for anyone, and I wish I hadn't seen some of the ending myself. BUT - it would be the movie I would show to anyone experimenting with drugs. Why: I have this problem where I always secretly root for the bad thing in movies. In "Girl Interrupted", I really wanted Winona's character to stay with Angelina's character. I loved their relationship, even as twisted as it was. In "Heathers", I wanted them to blow up the school. In "Candy", I wanted that girl and Heath to get back together. But Requiem isn't that way. I wanted to get inside the movie and be their friend and witness to them and rescue them. I think this movie shows addiction accurately, instead of glamorizing it. )

In "Requiem", they show the drug use in a really interesting way: Closeups of the physical effect in rapid succession (blood thru veins, pupils dilating, etc), then a short clip of the pleasure or enjoyment. And then increasingly longer and longer clips of the pain...the way addiction enslaves them.
By the end of the movie, you feel there is no hope at all for any of the 4 characters to return to any of the goodness their addiction destroyed. You feel despair.

It's the same brilliance in both: The very way the story is told makes you understand/identify with/empathize with the main characters; the form matches the message.