Review of Following (1999) by Indira S — 31 Dec 2012

It's clear while watching this that Christopher Nolan was still trying to master filmmaking at this point, although he does show some promise that's confirmed by his current career. Many elements from his later movies such as a noir inspired atmosphere and complicated storytelling are here, but the same shortcomings that show up in his later films are even more glaring in his first feature.

There's a strong sense of longing and being out of one's depth to it, and several scenes do a great job of showing the discomfort at having everyday lies and masks cut through. The almost mechanical rules that his movies follow are laid out fairly well in here, and while they can become stifling at times in anything he's worked on, this one does a decent job of justifying their role in the story.

His didactic tendency of using characters as mouthpieces for his themes is shown through the antagonist, who is played fairly well as charming and suave by the amateur actor in the part, although the protagonist is almost too passive and thinly written to be relatable, and at times the script seems outright contemptuous of him.

In addition the film jumps between different points in time with little setup or indication of it until the audience is already in the scene. The romantic subplot of the movie is its biggest shortcoming, Nolan's movies often treat this as perfunctory and fail to develop relationships in a believable way, here it just seems to sort of happen with no real chemistry between the characters or any real reason given that she would gravitate toward him.

In spite of these flaws, the layered plot pays off well with a clever series of revelations at the end of the movie and some fairly powerful confrontations throughout. One of the strongest features was how the modest score was reworked to reflect subtle differences in mood throughout the movie.