Christopher Nolan: Ranking His Films From Worst To Best
9. Following
Everyone has to start somewhere. That, in itself, is an unduly harsh way of summing up Following Nolans debut feature which was filmed on a shoestring budget in challenging circumstances. The result is far from perfect, but as debuts go it more than does the job, introducing us to a cerebral filmmaker who positively revels in twisting the traditional narrative approach to devious ends. Following tells the story of Young Man (Nolan wasnt the best at character names early doors), a labouring writer devoid of inspiration who calls himself Bill and takes to following strangers around London in the faint hope of stumbling on something worthy of putting pen to paper. However, he gets more than he bargained for when he winds up on the tail of Cobb a professional burglar who takes the young man under his wing and falls for the charms of a femme fatale. Nolan managed to put Following together for a meagre £3,000, commandeering friends and acquaintances that were in full-time employment, as he was, to sacrifice their weekends over the course of a year in pursuit of his filmmaking dream. The result is an absorbing neo-noir that foreshadows the directors fetish for non-linear storytelling, but unsurprisingly it's a feeler effort put in the shade by his later films. Hamstrung by a largely inexperienced cast and not yet the master storyteller that he would become, Nolans debut is enjoyable but lightweight, and proof that things could only get better.
I watch movies and I watch sport. I also watch movies about sport, and if there were a sport about movies I'd watch that too. The internet was the closest thing I could find.
