The World of Christopher Nolan Part 1- Following

"Everyone has a box."

In honor of the release of The Dark Knight Rises this week, I decided to go back and review all of Christopher Nolan's films. He is one of my favorite directors of all time, and it is never a bad thing to watch a Nolan film, and I always have something to say about everything, so what better place than my own movie blog. (and it's a great way to pass some time while in the hospital :oP ) I thought it fitting to watch his movies in order of their release. It is always interesting to watch a director's progression and growth. So, I started with his 1998, black and white movie, Following.
Following appears a first to have a very simple story line, a young struggling writer, Bill, follows people in order to help inspire his writing. One of his marks notices him one day and approaches him. This man, Cobb, turns out to be a thief. (Fun fact: also the last name of DiCaprio's character in Inception) Cobb begins to teach him the ropes of breaking and entering. Seemingly basic storyline correct? Nothing is ever basic with Nolan, and that is why is his amazing.

This movie is categorized as being a film nor, which is a fancy word for a stylish crime drama. I found that this particular film really reminded me of some of Hitchcock's (my favorite director ever, he stands above everyone else) This movie, much like his second film Memento, does not start at the complete beginning of the film. It goes back and forth from the beginning of the story, the end of the story, and even at times the middle of the story. Being that this was his first full-length feature, this could easily be a disaster for an experienced director, let alone a brand new one. He did a wonderful job though. He has such a way with reveling little things piece by piece, without giving to much away, but making you think that you have everything figured out. Then he hits you again with something new. What is great about this, is that it is never something to far fetched that it is unbelievable, it is just something that you probably didn't think about, even though all of the pieces were there for you to figure it out yourself if you looked close enough. This has been a talent of his throughout all of his films. I thought that the cuts in between the scenes could have been a bit smoother, but this is a directorial and debut, and a very low budgeted film, so I can't complain to much.

Another thing that I loved about the film is that it was filmed in black and white. Many people now a days are a bit turned off by black and white movies (my cousin's boyfriend being one of them :op). I feel that black and white movies force us to focus on the important aspects of the movie, the story. This generation of movie goers are so used to the special effects and how big the expectations are, but what they are forgetting is what is at the heart of every movie-The Story. I thought that this was a great choice for this particular film. There was nothing that was lost without color. You focused on the story and the characters.
What also amazed be about this movie was the focus of this idea of voyeurism. This movie was made in 1998, a few years before the Internet boom, and the insane blow up of social media. Cobb talks to Bill about how all people have a box that contains all of these intimate items, and that knowing someone has taken a look into this box, excites them a little. They don't really take much of anything, but they are observing and peaking....they are making judgements based on the things that they see displayed in their homes. I didn't think that this was very far off of what we all do in all of our social media outlets. I thought that aspect of the movie was the most interesting.  
All in all this was a great start for Nolan's career. You can see different things that he was playing around tired to perfect with his later films. Memento has many of the story telling tricks that he used in this one. If you are a Christopher Nolan fan at all, this is a must see. The acting is nothing special, but for me it really didn't need to be. If you appreciate Alfred Hitchcock at all, this is also a must see. I think that is definitely has many remnants of his film style as well. Watch it from a distance, quietly at first, and then feel yourself become lost in a world you never intended to be in.