The other day I was watching Momento with Kimiko and I have to say, the movie is really good. I like a lot about it… enough that I am going to have to grab a copy of the screenplay and study the structuring. Go ahead, hit the web site and look into it… then come back.
As good as the movie is, I didn’t find it important. You know, it didn’t reveal anything to me about life and the human condition. Then, on the DVD there is a passage called “Momento Mori”. Some portion of that really made a lot of sense to me, so I will reproduce it here. You should buy or rent the flick though on DVD, and read the whole thing.
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“They tried to teach you to make lists in grade school, remember? Back when your day planner was the back of your hand. And if your assignments came off in the shower, well, then they didn’t get done. No direction, they said. No discipline. So they tried to get you to write it all down somewhere more permanent. Of course, your grade-school teachers would be laughing their pants wet if they could see you now. Because you’ve become the exact product of their organizational lessons. Because you can’t even take a piss without consulting one of your lists. They were right. Lists are the only way out of this mess. Here’s the truth: People, even regular people, are never just any one person with one set of attributes. It’s not that simple. We’re all at the mercy of the limbic system, clouds of electricity drifting through the brain. Every man is broken into twenty-four-hour fractions, and then again within those twenty-four hours. It’s a daily pantomime, one man yielding control to the next: a backstage crowded with old hacks clamoring for their turn in the spotlight. Every week, every day. The angry man hands the baton over to the sulking man, and in turn to the sex addict, the introvert, the conversationalist. Every man is a mob, a chain gang of idiots. This is the tragedy of life. Because for a few minutes of every day, every man becomes a genius. Moments of clarity, insight, whatever you want to call them. The clouds part, the planets get in a neat little line, and everything becomes obvious. I should quit smoking, maybe, or here’s how I could make a fast million, or such and such is the key to eternal happiness. That’s the miserable truth. For a few moments, the secrets of the universe are opened to us. Life is a cheap parlor trick. But then the genius, the savant, has to hand over the controls to the next guy down the pike, most likely the guy who just wants to eat potato chips, and insight and brilliance and salvation are all entrusted to a moron or a hedonist or a narcoleptic. The only way out of this mess, of course, is to take steps to ensure that you control the idiots that you become. To take your chain gang, hand in hand, and lead them. The best way to do this is with a list. It’s like a letter you write to yourself. A master plan, drafted by the guy who can see the light, made with steps simple enough for the rest of the idiots to understand. Follow steps one through one hundred. Repeat as necessary. Your problem is a little more acute, maybe, but fundamentally the same thing.”– Momento Mori |