Following - 1998

While writer/director Christopher Nolan has created a significant fan base with Memento, Batman Begins and The Prestige, many fans of his work have probably missed out on his no-budget first film, Following.

Both Memento and The Prestige featured a fantastic use of a nonlinear, chopped up narrative, which is the style Nolan began developing with Following. Thanks to movie rental services over the Internet, the 1998 movie is readily available for those who want to see the film where Nolan first honed his skills telling reconstructed stories.

Following certainly feels like the work of a first-timer, with it’s inexpensive production techniques and actors who sometimes show their inexperience. However, the script is clearly the work of a writer who knows how to tell a story in an interesting way.

Nolan weaves three different timelines revolving around Bill, a poor writer in London. Bill, in search of inspiration, tries to get ideas for his character studies by shadowing random people around the city.

Predictably, he follows the wrong man, Cobb, a little too closely and soon finds himself as Cobb’s accomplice in petty burglaries, which are as much for sport as they are for income. Cobb is also interested in studying people, but he does so by stealing and rifling their personal belonging instead of shadowing.

Bill quickly gets caught up in the activities and begins to take on Cobb’s methods and personal habits. But even as Bill becomes more like Cobb, he exhibits increasing anxiety while Cobb remains cool.

Only as the story unfolds do we understand why each character behaves as such. As with most of Nolan’s work, aspects of final twist are hinted at but the resolution still comes as a surprise.

As Nolan shows with greater skill later in career, the nonlinear narrative can enhance a good story by creating extra mystery around its characters and their motives. The script and the editing manage to transcend the movie’s nonexistent budget and the greenness of those involved, showing how tight Nolan’s artistic vision is even with its twists.

Of course, Following can’t stack up to Memento or The Prestige, but it’s still incredibly successful for an ambitious first project. Let’s just hope Nolan’s upcoming Batman Begins sequel doesn’t go the way of Batman Returns.