Sunday, December 22, 2013

Following (1998)

Director: Christopher Nolan. Cast: Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell. 69 min. Rated R. UK. Mystery/Crime.

Christopher Nolan's first feature film. Using the style later he perfected in Memento, Nolan tells the story of a loner who as an inspirational source for characters of a new book, follows random people in the streets, studying their behavior. When he breaks his own first rule (not to follow the same person twice), that person wises up, and turns out to be a thief, who takes him along as a side-kick on burglaries. Through flash-backs and flash-forwards, we're taken through several mind-bending twists, with a surprise ending. No bias - you can see the dawn of a genius filmmaker.

PS: Streaming on Netflix, here's some interesting trivia:

"As Christopher Nolan's debut feature, it was designed to be as inexpensive as possible to make: scenes were heavily rehearsed so that just one or two takes were needed, thus economising on 16 mm film stock, the production's greatest expense, and for which Nolan was paying from his salary. Without expensive professional lighting equipment, Nolan mostly used available light. Apart from providing the script and direction, Nolan also did the photography, editing and production himself."

Mo says:

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