Country:
U.K
Recognizable Faces:
Jeremy Theobald
Directed By:
Christopher Nolan
I interrupt this long streak of Friday documentaries reviews to share this little jewel with you. FOLLOWING is the first full-length feature directed by "take-no-prisoners" director Christopher Nolan (who I like to compare to F.F Coppola in ambition) and it lives up not only to his name, but to the legacy of any decent film director. Every Hollywood powerhouse director has THAT film, shot in black and white, who's a little more difficult of approach than the rest of his works, but oh-so-good. FOLLOWING is that film for Nolan. A bleak, neo-noir that starts playfully enough but ends up prying your skull open like a James M. Cain novel. It's a strong display of Chris Nolan's directorial skills, in his trademark style where he controls every variable from the scene setting to micromanagement of actors. All of that for a stellar end product.
The protagonist of FOLLOWING (Theobald) doesn't have a name. He calls himself Bill or Daniel Lloyd, but his real identity is never proven and you learn quick enough not to trust him. He's a writer with the blank page syndrome, so one day he decides to start following people for no reason. To see what they do, who they are. He deems this as character research. One day, he stumbles upon Cobb (Alex Haw), who confronts him on his misdemeanor and invites him to pursue his fantasies one step further. They start breaking up in apartments together. At first, only to see. To peep in people's lives. But then, the stakes are raising as the protagonist gets involved with a mysterious young woman they first busted upon a few days before. Then, like the great James Ellroy said: "...everything goes haywire"
One of the great things about FOLLOWING is that you can see the seed of MEMENTO, his breakout movie, in it. Christopher Nolan's love for non-linear narrative didn't spring from the idea of a blunt force trauma victim. It dates from earlier and takes its roots in his love for crime fiction. While it's a little confusing in the opening, it's a very playful approach and it engaged the hell out of me, only to make me horrified as he pulled the veil on his master plan. Cobb, the character of Alex Haw, was by far the most interesting because without being a CIA Agent or something far fetched like this, he slipped in between society's cracks and exploits its shortcomings. He in magnetic, yet invisible. Haw delivers a concrete performance with a powerful mix of charisma and psychopathic narcissism.
It's a seventy minutes film only, so it's pretty short and it's funny to see the budget shortcomings in it. The Blonde, played by Lucy Russell, for example is supposed to be the femme fatale, but she's not very good looking. But FOLLOWING is a very humble movie that lives within its means and doesn't waste a single frame of film reel. I realized after watching it that I have now watched every full-length feature films by Christopher Nolan and this has to be at least in his top five, if not his top 3. That's quite the statement because all the Nolan movies would make my top 100 best movies of all time and when he's on the ball....holy shit, is he ever on the ball. If you liked MEMENTO, then you have to watch FOLLOWING, it's a sure hit.
SCORE: 95%