Following
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Movie Reviews of Following
Movie Review: You're Never Alone.
Summary: 4 Stars
After watching Following (1998) last night, I've determined that writer/director Christopher Nolan, who would later do the immensely popular film Memento (2000), is either a raving psychotic, mad genius, or possibly equal parts of both (I'll elaborate more on this later). Appearing in the film is Jeremy Theobald, who appeared in Nolan's first feature short, Doodlebug (1997), Lucy Russell, who is going to appear in Nolan's take on the Gotham Knight in 2005's Batman Begins, and Alex Haw, who has no other credits, which is too bad as I thought he did very well here.
Theobald plays Bill, an aspiring writer (i.e. the starving artist type...you know him...greasy, unkempt, living in a shabby apartment subsisting off macaroni and ketchup...or is it catsup? I guess it doesn't matter) whose curiosities have developed into a rather odd compulsion of picking people out of the crowd, randomly, and following them with no other reason than to see where they go...I guess it beats working. Anyway, after Bill gets caught `doing his thing' by one of his subjects, a slick, smartly dressed man named Cobb (Haw), he learns the man is a burglar, the two develop a sort of partnership, and Bill begins tagging along with Cobb (who seems to have an awful lot of insight about those who he robs), supposedly to gather information for his writing...but soon Bill finds himself not only learning, but participating, using the tricks of the trade taught to him as Cobb becomes the mentor, Bill the student. Bill also becomes involved with the occupant of one of the flats the two have burglarized, a pretty blonde woman (Russell) with a somewhat shady past and a penchant for manipulation. So what happens next? Well, let's just say once you begin your downward decent, regardless of the illicit activity, the momentum generally takes hold and becomes a force of its' own, and not stopping until confronted with an immovable object, in this case, rock bottom.
So what the heck did I mean when I referred earlier to Nolan's mental state? The story seems pretty straightforward, from the way I described it, right? If you've seen the film Memento, you'll have a better understanding about what I'm talkin' about, Willis. The story is straightforward, when played in the linear, chronological sense, but that's not the case here. The film begins in the present, with the Bill relating his story to what appears to be a police detective, and then bounces between three different timeframes, the past, the not so distance past, and the present, highlighted by noticeable physical changes in Bill (hairstyles, facial hair, distinguishing bruises and cuts on his face...Bill gets the beating at one point). Now, this might make the story sound confusing and hard to follow, but I didn't think so as Nolan seemed to know exactly how to best put things in the order without actually putting them back in order (if that makes sense). As I said before, he does allow for variances to become the key indicators between the various timeframes, so if you're paying attention, you shouldn't have problems keeping up. The story, when told in chronological order, is actually pretty simplistic, but Nolan manages to complicate things just enough to keep you in the dark right up until the end. It is strange how much different the same story can play out depending on how it's told. As I said, Nolan seems to be able to extract the most out of his skewed chronology of events, heightening the tension greatly. The whole notion of understanding a story enough to completely tear it apart, re-assembling it in a completely different fashion, ultimately getting the same ending though a different route, and doing it successfully, is amazing. The film, which was shot in black and white, is kept minimal (i.e. sparse) in nearly all aspects (script, story, characters, etc.), and runs lean and mean with a runtime of about 70 minutes. There seems little, if anything, in the film that was unnecessary, so there's little to distract from the story. Bottom line is if you're interested in a sharp, smartly paced film that wastes little and requires a bit of thought from its' viewer, Following won't disappoint.
The full screen picture (aspect ratio 1.33:1) looks gritty, serving to give the film a `noir-ish' quality, which accentuates the story well. The 2.0 Dolby stereo is adequate, but there are English subtitles if you have difficulty hearing all the dialogue. There are a whole slew of extras including commentary by director Nolan, the ability to reconstruct the film into chronological order, theatrical trailers for this film and Memento, second angles with the director's shooting script, along with cast and crew biographies. I was surprised to learn Nolan was directing the next Batman film, Batman Begins, as it doesn't seem like the kind of thing he'd be interested in, but then many had preconceived ideas when it was announced Tim Burton was going to do a Batman film way back in 1989, and that didn't turn out too bad.
Cookieman108
Movie Review: Exceptional DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
If you're looking at this DVD, odds are it's because you saw "Memento" and wondered about the director, Christopher Nolan. Let's cut to the chase: Yes, "Following" is similar to "Memento" -- its narrative jumps around in a similar way, to start with -- and yes, it's basically just as good a movie. If you're wanting to stumble across a great young film noir director, Christopher Nolan is your guy, and this movie is well worth a look. Make that two or three looks.I have to say, when I read the DVD case and saw that this plot wasn't told chronologically, the first word that came to mind was "gimmick." For "Memento" it made sense to tell things backward, because of the whole memory-impairment center of the story, but here Nolan was doing it again in an earlier movie? I was set to see a sort of warmup run, especially because this one was made with almost no budget at all.
Okay, so I was wrong. "Following" tells a few different lines of the story at once, but it doesn't tell them in reverse; here the idea is that the story's framework is a conversation between our main character and another man who's interviewing him in the opening moments. In the (dryly funny) director commentary, Nolan says he's trying to provide the viewer with details and themes in a "conversational" way. Maybe that's a conceit, but dang it, the mixed up storyline worked on this one too.
Two other common points of the two movies: they're built on incredibly spare, lean writing, and they really, really reward watching at least twice.
Following, if anything, is even more minimalistic than Memento; it's literally true that you come out of the movie not knowing any of the characters' real names. Given the premise -- that the main character develops an inappropriate, fascinated interest in the intimate lives of anonymous people he sees in a crowd -- the doubt you feel even about the characters' names makes perfect sense. A bunch of other little touches on that theme really hit home with me -- boxes full of memorabilia that are (or maybe aren't) giving our protagonist a look at people's internal lives, and so on. Gradually you realize the story's so sparely told because we're like the main character, trying to figure people out by looking at the pieces of their story from a distance in a crowd.
And man, does Following reward a second watching. You'll get through it once and you'll kick it around for a while, work out the stuff you missed, tell your friends what you noticed... and then you all want to hit Play again. Every scene plays a little differently the second, or third, time through. That's exactly the sort of movie you want to collect, right?
If you are a collector sort, you'll like the few extras this one provides. For a "no budget" indie film, it really "gets" the DVD thing. There's an alternate camera angle with the modified script, so you can play through and watch where Nolan and company made changes along the way. Some of the changes are pretty funny; the sound guy's name got substituted for one of the character names. Nolan's commentary soundtrack is really worth hearing, too, especially because he made this with no money at all. He talks about how he established continuity for the viewer with little visual cues, throws off very funny little asides about how he cut corners, and stuff like that. Finally, you also get a "chronological" option, so you can see everything in order. It's all set in a nicely elegant set of menus that match the sleak tone of the movie.
So, yeah, it's worth it. Following is extremely memorable. It's not a perfect movie, or anything -- I'd still say either The Third Man or The Big Sleep is my favorite film noir -- but give it four stars and change, for doing so much on a shoestring.
You gotta wonder what Christopher Nolan can do to back this up. He's going to have more money in hand, and the fractured story thing might not last another movie. Hearing the director commentary on this disc, I don't think he's going to necessarily be limited to the cynical point of view these two movies have seemed to push. The guy has a real eye for character, for the way people head in unlikely directions... This could be an amazing career we're seeing start up, or then again maybe these are just a little too cynical to start with.
Movie Review: cult 'Following'
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a nifty little low budget, black-and-white directorial debut from currently-on-fire Christopher Nolan. Nolan, who is British, purportedly filmed 'Following' in London over the span of a year due to time, budget, and casting constraints. The results are impressive.
I was initially attracted to the film's eerie premise of a man who follows random people out of innocent and earnest interest. One can fathom the possibilities stemming from this single concept. Fortunately, Nolan, who also wrote the story, crafts a solid plot around several intriguing scenarios, then cuts and splices them up chronologically for good measure, a tactic he would further refine and employ in 'Memento', two years after this picture. Chronological displacement is, in fact, the way a lot of older films were told: they usually started at the end and then unfolded through a character's recollection.
'Following' is more evocative of classic cinema than suggestive of its creator's future of big budget action flicks like 'The Dark Knight' and, most recently, 'Inception'. Here, Nolan instead brings a fresh twist to Hitchcock and film noir, in a winning combination of old and new. The black and white footage is sumptuous, stark, elegant and spooky; apartments are bathed in white daylight and dark nightclubs bleed ominous shadows. The subtle music score by David Julyan alternates between jittery keyboards and ponderous orchestral washes. It is in such great style that two particularly quirky characters exist: Jeremy Theolbold as "the young man" and Alex Haw as "Cobb" (both unknowns, to American audiences at least I presume). Fortunately Nolan has picked some great talent, especially the suave, cunning Cobb. Theobold's "young man" is skillfully played as someone who unwittingly gets involved over their head. But this isn't an actor's film. It's a director's film, where the production elements led by an intruiging story and finally topped with deft performences all come together very precisely.
Nolan meshes our senses of time and space, heart and mind until a finale that makes perfect, devastating sense once it arrives. But for all of the film's successes and strokes of creativity, it's not perfect. For such a clever idea, the ending is still a slight letdown, as if the philosophical questions raised by our voyeuristic interest in the lives of strangers weren't worth answering, or really addressing in the first place for that matter. Nolan opts to wrap everything up in a much more convential box. But that's a minor complaint agaisnt a memorable film that is definitely something to be seen.
This DVD is nice, with a cover that closely resembles the original poster advertisment (really lost on major studios when putting out DVDs), and some extras including a commentary track by Nolan himself. Presented in full-frame, which I have not yet independently verified whether that was the originally intended aspect ratio, but given the otherwise caringly crafted high quality package, I'm assuming so.
In summary, a great debut from a now-important filmmaker carving a distinctive filmmography. Not quite a hint of things to come, but a masterstoke tribute to what came before.
Movie Review: Smart and Clever (4 1/2 stars)
Summary: 4 Stars
Christopher Nolan is a very talented director who proves how talented he is with his first "no-budget" movie, "Following." This a dark film noir that will keep you thinking and guessing until the shocking last scene.Bill is a struggling writer who has been on his own for quite sometime. During that time he has become very bored and needs to find ways to kill time. He starts to follow people... anybody who seemed interesting to him. At first it was supposed to be a way for him to gather material for characters in his stories, but soon he becomes obsessed and cannot stop following people. Once a thief, Cobb, catches Bill in the act, he decides to allow him to enter his world of robbing houses, showing Bill how to really violate the lives of strangers. Soon everything starts to spin out of control and things for Bill will never be the same as he starts to learn that somebody just might be trying to use him as a decoy.... but a decoy for what? This dark film noir will keep you watching and thinking, even when it's all said and done. Then, you're going to want to watch it again.
Very much like "Memento," Nolan screws around with time, forcing us to remember exactly what has happened and the order they occurred in. However, the movie is not backwards, it is very much out of order in parts, so pay attention to every little detail that you come across. Is this film confusing? Yes, it is, or at least the first time you see it. This is a movie that will require you to watch it at least two times. Although I thought this was a good movie, I was a little disappointed with the length of the movie. It is only 70 minutes long, which isn't very long at all. It's also not widescreen, but I'm sure that' s because it wasn't filmed that way. It is black and white, very much like "Clerks," but it actually makes the film seem more darker and eerier. The movie does have great acting, from people you've never even heard of most likely, and it does have a great story line. It tends to be confusing at times, even frustrating. So see it with an open mind. I loved the music in it and you will be glad to know that it is the same person Nolan used for "Memento." There are a few extras on the DVD; one of the best features is the ability for you to see the movie in chronological order. There are also trailers for "Following" and "Memento." ("Memento" is probably one of the best theatrical trailers I have ever seen. "Following" is also a fine trailer.)
"Following" is a fine first from Nolan, who has proven that he is a brilliant writer and director who loves to make us do a lot of work when watching his films. If you liked "Memento," chances are you will enjoy this film as well. A brilliant movie, and one that shows you that you do not need a big budget to make a great movie. See this one as soon as you can.
Movie Review: Terrific! Christopher Nolan's best film...
Summary: 4 Stars
Chrisopher Nolan has been dazzling critics and movie-goers since his first big hit 'Memento'. Since then he's been filling his movies with neat ideas, great actors and special effects in films like Dark Knight and Inception but his stories are starting to lose their spark. While Nolan's definitly one of the more creative movie makers working today, when it comes to characters and story-telling I think he has yet to top his low-budget indie film 'Following' (at least as both writer/director).
Following is about a young wannabe writer who likes to follow random people from a distance. He first starts doing this to get ideas for characters for stories he's writing but then becomes addicted and starts developing rules for who to follow and how. He does this until he follows man named Cobb (nice nod from Inception) who confronts him then draws him into his own voyeuristic world of breaking into stranger's houses and 'disrupting' their lives. The story is told in a non-linear style with flash-backs and flash-forwards though much less gimmicky than Memento and it really holds your attention. Christopher Nolan also managed to cram his screenplay with suspense and some suprising dark humor as it follows our main characters to their fates. The music, though sparse is very well implimented and gives the film real energy.
The performances and camera work really compliment 'Following'. Both Jeremy Theobald (as "Bill") and Alex Haw (as Cobb) bring real authenticity to their roles that grounds this film in it's world. The Black and White camera work also does a great job giving the movie a very isolated feel.
Like Christopher Nolan's other films there are points in the story where it seems the filmmaker is just making things up as he goes, but Following's unique feel and atmosphere keeps the movie afloat.
As I said before I've sort of lost interest in Christopher Nolan's newer films because he keeps heaping them with more and more creative ideas and special effects but forgets about what can really draw people into a story and it's characters. 'Following' is still a shining example of what you can do even on a shoe-string budget and no reputation.