Following

Date: still 12/07/10. Watched this movie straight after the immense disappointment of Remember Me, as I found it at the Christopher Nolan Blogothon, where someone found it online. My prayers have been answered.

Now I don't feel so guilty about regarding Christopher Nolan as my idol. Following was his debut film (I have seen all of his films now apart from Insomnia and of course, Inception), and what a start to a great film career it was.

A young writer (Jeremy Theobald) takes to following people in the street for inspiration for his new novel. While he is doing this, he is noticed by a man who goes by the name Cobb (Alex Haw), who takes the young writer under his wing. The pair start to rob peoples houses, to get a feel of what its like to be them. He meets a woman (Lucy Russell), who wants the young man to do a job, but he soon realises that things aren't as they seem. Like Christopher Nolan's future films, this adopts the broken chronological order which he seems to use so effectively. In this film, it is an extremely good concept, which makes the most of its interesting premise. I wouldn't say this is Nolan's best work, but that's mainly because he is always bettering himself..

The fact that it was made for just $6,000 is an achievement in itself. I mean, the low budget aspect of it makes it even better, even if at most times it's a bit second-rate. Also, it's black-and-white cinematography--done by Nolan himself--is fantastically done. But honestly, with its low budget and no-name stars, this is a masterpiece. You can see the genius of Nolan in this film already, and really, can he put a foot wrong?

The discipline of it's budget makes it somewhat better. because every scene absolutely counts. That doesn't mean the film is perfect though. It draws on some bland scenes which are supposed to make sense to the whole story, but by the end some of the vital information may have been missed. Nolan's skills weren't fully developed, so in comparing this to his other works, this is pretty much a dud. In Nolan-world, a dud is actually called 'great', compared to 'fantastic'.

A great debut from Master Nolan, possibly one of the best low-budget films ever made.

7/10