Funny how this was never discussed.

Anyway, I haven't seen Insomnia, but this is definitely my least favorite Nolan film. It's a fascinating concept, and the twist at the end was decent, but a lot of it, from the unneeded-non-linear storytelling to indeed the end, feels a lot like Nolan experimenting with themes and gimmicks he would use in later works. So in that sense it's not bad, but it's never that good.

**½

It was decent. With better production values I probably could have liked it a lot more. But as it stands, my least favorite Nolan film.

***

A-



Following is a low-key no-budget thriller that will receive a lot of exposure over the upcoming years. How come? Well, that's what happens when you direct an acclaimed $500+ million behemoth. That's right, Following if Christopher Nolan's debut feature. He hasn't become known until Memento (an admittedly superior film), but in his first film, Following, he has already showed all of the potential that he had. In a way Following feels like a direct precursor to Memento style-wise and themes-wise.

The movie follows (*pun*) a young, struggling writer that spends his days following random people on the streets. One of these days he follows an unconventional thief that takes him under his wing. During their breaking-and-entering sessions he comes across the photograph of a woman that he is immediately attracted to. To tell anything more about the film would be a shame as it would spoil half of the fun. This is a movie that rarely leads in an expected direction and by the end of the film you start wondering how you actually got to that place. The style is definitely very much Memento-lite with sequences being not in order (however not exactly reversed either). In this movie you've got the typical Nolan ingredients that shine through all of the films he has made so far. The characters are all shady (the protagonist is definitely not a clear-cut good guy), there's the innovative storytelling that preceded Memento by three years, there are some very nifty twists. There is very nice cinematography at work. It's like a Nolan best-of packed into a very tight running time of 70 minutes.

I must say that at first I wasn't very enthralled. During the first 30 minutes you can't quite put a finger on where the film is going. It's just kind of there. But once things start to get going, it really pulled the rug under my feet up until the pretty shocking finale. The great screenplay and direction are aided by competent performances. I wasn't a big fan of Jeremy Theobald's portrayal of the main character, but Alex Haw did a very good job as the mysterious Cobb and Lucy Russell does a good femme fatale impression. The storyline very much unfolds right in front of your eyes as the film goes on and by the 50-minutes mark I was stunned, not knowing how the whole thing is going to end up, but already pretty excited to find out.

Following is not as mature and clever as Memento. It is also not as lush and in-depth as The Dark Knight and not as exciting as The Prestige. Unlike those films it kind of lacks the identity of its own because it bears all familiar Nolan trademarks. It's too bad that I saw it after having seen all of other Nolan works. Trying to see it from the perspective of the fact that it was made before Memento and the rest and cost just a meager $6,000 - it appears as a very impressive achievement. At the very least it is better than Nolan's Insomnia (which is still solid, but doesn't quite reach the rank of "great" as his other films do), but still a bit behind the rest. The again, the rest belongs to some of the most brilliant films of this decade so it's not a shame to be worse than them. It's still a surprising, gripping, well-acted and most of all, very well-directed thriller in which nothing is the way it seems at first. It's an overlooked gem of a film that has been overshadowed by even superior works that the director has created afterwards. Nevertheless, it can stand its own and deserves a look too. Highly recommended!

Quite good considering its budget and Nolan's lack of experience. I almost wish he would return to this kind of no-frills filmmaking.

Quite the awesome film. Nolan.does.not.dissapoint.

A-

The pacing at the beginning, in particular with the flash forwards, is a bit confusing and I would need to re-watch this to appreciate that part more. That aside, everything comes together quite wonderfully at the end and the final interrogation scene is aces and a sign of what was to come for Nolan.

Following

This is one of two Nolan films that I had yet to see (the other is Memento). His first feature film. Clever, engrossing, natural film-making. Really impressed. It is 90s through and through but Alex Haw (the con man) and Lucy Russell (the femme fatale), among other elements such as the camerawork, the b/w, the lighting, give it a 50s noir feel. It looks very much like a student project, but it is an accomplishment far beyond the reach of those. It might be my favourite Nolan film. It is so nicely contained that it appeals to me.

A

Ohhh, you are in for something special with Memento then.

So everyone keeps saying. I hope it lives up to it.

Definitely a strong debut for Nolan. Such great filmaking on display here between the b/w cinematography, the performances, the editing and best of all the pacing. All of those elements made this way more engrossing to watch than it should have been, but I'm not really surprised considering the talent Nolan has even with a low budget film like this. It won't be one of my favorites, but I'm glad I finally saw it and I can see myself definitely revisiting it in the future.

B+

I finally watched this too and it's a cool little film. Interesting to see how Nolan started of his career and there are clearly tellings of a talented film maker. It's a pretty good story, the score stood out for me too and the best thing about it is the subtle humor.

B

Finally watched this and thought it was a pretty solid debut film, especially one with such a micro-budget. You can see all the traits of a growing Nolan here with his way of building tension and using music (sometimes at the cost of hearing the dialogue) to build even more tension. I didn't love the final twist, but couldn't feel too bad for The Young Man considering he was such a creep.

B+