Ok, so what film first used ' Reversed Story telling' popularised in Memento ?

[Original Desmond]

I know Memento isn't the first film to use reverse story telling but it is the most popular, followed by Irreversible

But what film originated this style ?

[RyoHazuki]

Betrayal?

[Trigger]

There was an episode of Seinfeld like this.

[movielib]

Originally posted by Trigger
There was an episode of Seinfeld like this.
Called "The Betrayal" (as an homage to the film). One of my favorite Seinfelds.

[costanza]

you can stuff your sorries in a sack mister.

[TCG]

"something's not sitting right."

1 hour earlier:

"I'll have the clams casino. Chef recommends."

[Michael Corvin]

Originally posted by movielib
Called "The Betrayal" (as an homage to the film). One of my favorite Seinfelds.

While a great episode, it was one of the least funny, IMO. The only real punchliine was at the very end(beginning) when Jerry & Kramer first meet.

I think this is the one that screws with the timeline set on Mad About You with Kramer's character sub-letting the apartment to Kramer.

[fnordboy]

Betrayal may be the earliest, I don't know.

Also Nolan's first movie, Following is similar in that it doesn't adhere to chronological order.

[Inverse]

FWIW, Betrayal started life as a stage play by Harlold Pinter.

[fnordboy]

Originally posted by Inverse
FWIW, Betrayal started life as a stage play by Harlold Pinter.
Was the play also told in reverse order? Or was that just something that the movie did? I am assuming the play was like that too.

[UKingdom]

There are many films that follow a nonlinear structure, though not necessarily all in reverse; some of my favorites:

Run Lola Run
Go
Pulp Fiction
Sliding Doors
21 Grams

[marty888]

Reverse chronology was used in the 1934 Broadway play <i>Merrily We Roll Along</i> which went backward in time with each successive scene, ending in 1916. There was a musical version of this in 1981 by none other than Stephen Sondheim, but like the original, it wasn't a hit.

[Groucho]

Originally posted by fnordboy
Was the play also told in reverse order?Yes.

[Hendrik]

...and the play was a crashing bore, too...!...

. . . :o . . .

[PopcornTreeCt]

Yeah but that's not why Memento is GREAT.

[Goat3001]

Memento was not told in "reverse order". If it was reverse order the story would've been told chronologically if you watched the movie backwards scene by scene. This is not the case with Memento. The Black and White scenes were shown in chronological order and the color scenes were in reverse order. To view the movie chronologically, you would have to view all the black and white scenes in the order they are shown followed by the color scenes in reverse order.

So the movie is not in reverse chronological order. It is non-linear. So I would hardly say that Memento popularized non linear movies. IMO it would be Pulp Fiction that did this.

[cupon]

Originally posted by Goat3001
So the movie is not in reverse chronological order. It is non-linear. So I would hardly say that Memento popularized non linear movies. IMO it would be Pulp Fiction that did this.

None of these movies are truly reverse. They're more shuffled.

[MrN]

If a movie was truly reversed, wouldn't everybody be talking gibberish - like the bookstore scene in Top Secret.

[wendersfan]

Originally posted by Goat3001
So I would hardly say that Memento popularized non linear movies. IMO it would be Citizen Kane that did this.

I fixed that for you. :)

[Rypro 525]

also reservoir dogs did this before pulp fiction (and in the script, true romance was to do this as well.)

[Giles]

Chang-dong Lee's Korean 2000 film Peppermint Candy is told in reverse manner.

[Saxofonix]

Not quite in reverse .. but in DoA the narrative has the protagonist going progessively back over the sequences of events.
hmmm .. but this would be similar to how most mysteries are unravelled. So perhaps it isn't in the same vein as Memento.

[Get Me Coffee]

Star wars?

[whotony]

Originally posted by Michael Corvin


I think this is the one that screws with the timeline set on Mad About You with Kramer's character sub-letting the apartment to Kramer.

huh?

[Michael Corvin]

Michael Richards was on Mad About You(Season 2? Long before the Betrayal). The plotline was that Paul was subletting his old apartment. Jamie wanted him to get rid of it. So Paul heads over to his old pad, and it is Kramer that is renting from Paul. So Paul just gives it to Kramer, no-more subletting. Great cameo. But as they are talking, Paul asks if that struggling comedian still lives next door. Kramer says yes.

So in essence, with "the betrayal," the end shows Jerry moving in AFTER Kramer is already living there. So how would Paul know about Jerry if he wasn't living there when Jerry moved in? Just one of those little things that bugged me.

[Nosebleed]

Originally posted by Inverse
FWIW, Betrayal started life as a stage play by Harlold Pinter.

Interesting, that's why the character getting married on the backwards episode of Seinfeld was named Pinter.