![]() On the flip side, various elements of Following would be greatly welcomed in his films nowadays. Having said that, Nolan's feature debut slowly laid the groundwork for the recognizable traits and sensibilities that defined the director. From a perspective of pure entertainment value, Following is lacking, which is understandable due to its paltry resources. While not an overwhelmingly esoteric filmmaker, his most commercial films share no resemblance to the cookie-cutter pieces of franchise content that have flooded the market in recent years. The amateurish visual language created by the use of handheld cameras placates the unsettling desires that drive the Young Man.īetween his advocacy for the theater-going experience, emphasis on shooting on the highest quality of film stock, and history of employing a singular artistic voice to a blockbuster level, Christopher Nolan's place in Hollywood should not be taken for granted. Jeremy Theobald's nervy, ominous performance as the nameless protagonist bodes well with Nolan's inclinations. Additionally, the Young Man's obsession with writing inspirations and the life of a thief prove to be fatalistic. In the former's earlier films, especially Following, obsession is engaged with at a primal level. Obsession is another mutual thematic trait between Nolan and Hitchcock. Not only did he craft calculated, searing thrillers like The Master of Suspense, Nolan told stories through the warped mind of a protagonist who may or may not be morally corrupt. Based on his first three feature films, Nolan's influence from Alfred Hitchcock is eminent. In retrospect, Following is a curious exercise of converging ideas that Nolan would realize in his later films, notably regarding deception in The Prestige and theft in Inception.ĭespite the film's shortcomings as a brilliant demonstration of highbrow blockbuster entertainment, Following is a fascinating window into the alternate direction that Christopher Nolan could have pivoted into. There are various scenes of Cobb explaining the process of theft and deception to the Young Man in an expository function, which is something Nolan would often be criticized for. Following's Cobb is dressed fashionably in a well-fit suit, which quickly became a staple of the director. This is evident in the nameless protagonist that would be passed on to John David Washington in Tenet, and the surname "Cobb" being shared with a more prominent Nolan thief character, Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception. At a surface level, elements of the plot and synopsis in Nolan's first film stand as precursors to his later filmography. Along the way, he encounters a thief, Cobb ( Alex Haw), who takes him under his wing. Less of a small-budget film and more of a no-budget film, Following is a neo-noir about a young writer, simply named "The Young Man" ( Jeremy Theobald), who follows strangers on the streets of London for creative inspiration. ![]() RELATED: With 'Oppenheimer,' Christopher Nolan Fought for "Bite of Real-World Imagery," and Won ![]() ![]() Each scene needed to be rehearsed extensively to preserve their limited film stock, and Nolan had to comply with lighting his set with available light. Like any grassroots tale of a young filmmaker pulling themselves up by their bootstraps to finally make a movie, a prevalent phenomenon in the late 1980s and early '90s, production stories on Following are admirable. With limited experience, Nolan decided to dive head-first into feature filmmaking - banding his friends together to shoot on weekends with a minuscule budget of $6,000. Throughout his lifetime, he learned the craft through home movies and working behind the scenes as a script reader. Nolan, born and raised in the United Kingdom, opted out of attending film school despite being inspired by the process of filmmaking in his youth.
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