Review of Following (1999) by Emily B — 21 Jul 2009

Screw the Dark Knight, this is Nolan's masterpiece. Better than Memento even.

Following is a gritty British noir with all the conventional parts of that genre present here more than ever. A smart narative, subtle performances and excellent direction from Nolan, showing early potential. Amazing filmed by Nolan himself too. Which leads me to see that this, with other reasons, is very similar to Killer's Kiss which was, like this is Nolan's first main film, Kurbrick's first main film.

Both are in black and white, both actually filmed there picture themselves and both are crime films. Even the running time for both of them are short, yet both achieved so much, even with a small, even tiny, budget.

The performances are very good, Alex Haw being playing cold and confident to a tee and Jeremy Theobold being perfect in the lead role. Both are subtle performances that allow us to easily understand the characters.

Easily one of the best Noir's ever made, even if it was made 50, 60 years after Noir first began. This is Nolan's best film and smartest film that knocks his other films out of the park, and yes that includes you, Memento.