Review of Following (1999) by Dillinger P — 21 Mar 2014

The directorial debut of one of the worlds biggest directors of our current generation is an extremely watchable and multi layered outing, however apart from the story its really difficult to get a sense of Nolans direction, in fairness this is his first film.

Following takes place around a wannabe writer Bill, unemployed and a bit down and out he decides to follow people as part of his day to day life, it never goes further... until one day one of the men he has been following catches on and after a breif meeting, the duo form a team to rob houses and investigate people by their belongings.

Its an extremely clever film and reasonably acted for a debut. There are patchy bits here and there but it is completely forgivable. It riffs on the visual style of PI somewhat, which works but it definatley feels present.

The script is also pretty intense and well written dialogue enhances the performance. My problem is that its all a bit of a basic affair. Yeah the story is edited in such a way that the time line is all out of sync but the shots are slightly uninspiring and average.

Yet again, forgivable on a small budget and as a first film. It engrosses till the end and with a running time of 1 hour and 10 minutes it doesnt outstay its welcome. Enjoyable, intense and an interesting look at a great starting out his career but if your looking for lavish visuals and intense camera work, you need to move slightly ahead in this directors catalogue.