Following (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Following

Directed by	Christopher Nolan
Produced by	Emma Thomas Jeremy Theobald Peter Broderick
Written by	Christopher Nolan
Starring	Jeremy Theobald Alex Haw Lucy Russell John Nolan
Music by	David Julyan
Cinematography	Christopher Nolan
Distributed by	Zeitgeist Films
Release date(s)	April 3, 1999
Running time	70 min.
Language	English
Budget	$6,000
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Following is a 1998 film noir. It tells the story of a young man who follows strangers around the streets of London and is drawn into a criminal underworld when he fails to keep his distance. The film was made on a tiny budget,^[1] and features an unusual non-linear plot structure. It is the first feature film directed by Christopher Nolan, who went on to direct films such as Memento, Batman Begins, and The Prestige.

1 Plot
2 Production
3 Cast
4 Reception
5 Trivia
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Plot

A struggling young writer takes to following strangers around the streets of London, ostensibly to find inspiration for his new novel. Initially, he sets strict rules for himself regarding whom he should follow and for how long, but quickly discards them as he becomes addicted. He is spotted whilst following a well-manicured young man dressed in a dark suit. He introduces himself as "Cobb", and the young man gives his name as "Bill". Cobb asks the young man if he works for the police, before revealing that his appearance is a ruse. He is in fact a professional thief. Cobb invites the young man to help him in various burglaries. The material gains from these crimes seem to be of secondary importance to Cobb, who takes pleasure in rifling through the personal items in his victim's flats. He explains that his true passion is using the shock of robbery to make them re-examine their lives.

The young man is thrilled by Cobb's lifestyle, and begins to emulate him, cutting his hair short and wearing a dark suit. He attempts break-ins of his own, as Cobb encourages and guides him. The young man also begins to follow a blond woman, who appears to be the girlfriend of a local gangster. He makes advances on her, and ,when he is rebuked, he breaks into her flat.

Cobb and the blond woman draw the young man deeper into a criminal underworld, and it quickly becomes apparent that they have been concealing their true motives.

[edit] Production

Following was written, directed, filmed, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan.^[1] It was filmed in London, UK, on black and white Super 16mm filmstock. Nolan used a non-linear plot structure for his movie, a device he again used in Memento, Batman Begins, and The Prestige. This type of storytelling, he says, reflected the audience's inherent uncertainty about characters in film noir:

In a compelling story of this genre we are continually being asked to rethink our assessment of the relationship between the various characters, and I decided to structure my story in such a way as to emphasize the audience's incomplete understanding of each new scene as it is first presented.^[1]

Following was written and planned to be as inexpensive to produce as possible, but Nolan has described the production of Following as "extreme", even for a no-budget shoot.^[1] With no money, limited equipment, and a cast and crew who were all in full-time employment on weekdays, the shoot took a full year to complete.^[1] The production was so small that on many of the shoots, the cast, crew and their equipment could travel to their locations in a single London taxi.^[1]

To conserve expensive filmstock, every scene in the film was rehearsed extensively to ensure that the first or second take could be used in the final edit.^[1] For the most part, Nolan filmed using no professional film lighting equipment, employing only available light. He also used the homes and flats of his friends and family as locations.^[1]

[edit] Cast

Jeremy Theobald as The Young Man

Jeremy Theobald as The Young Man
Alex Haw as Cobb
Lucy Russell as The Blonde
John Nolan as The Policeman
Dick Bradsell as The Bald Guy
Gillian El-Kadi as Home Owner
Jennifer Angel as Waitress
Nicolas Carlotti as Barman
Darren Ormandy as Accountant
Guy Greenway as Heavy #1
Tassos Stevens as Heavy #2
Tristan Martin as Man at Bar
Rebecca James as Woman at Bar
Paul Mason as Home Owner's Friend
David Bovill as Home Owner's Husband

[edit] Reception

Following received generally positive reviews. Its aggregate review score from Rottentomatoes.com is 80%.^[2]

The Los Angeles Times was particularly impressed with the film, saying that it was a "taut and ingenious neo-noir" and that "as a psychological mystery it plays persuasively if not profoundly. Nolan relishes the sheer nastiness he keeps stirred up, unabated for 70 minutes."^[3] TV Guide called it "short, sharp and tough as nails",^[4] praising it's fast-paced storytelling and 'tricky, triple-tiered flashback structure'.^[4] Reel.com was similarly impressed with the unusual narrative style, saying that "far from gimmicky [...] the lack of conventional narrative structure contributes much to the growing suspense and artfully mimics Bill's sense of dislocation."^[5]

However, Time Out London felt that the film's climax was uninspired, saying that "the generic pay off is a little disappointing after the edgy, character based scenes of exposition."^[6] Empire magazine questioned the skill of the film's inexperienced cast, saying that they "lack the dramatic ballast to compensate for [Nolan's] erratic plot elisions"^[7]

[edit] Trivia

Three actors from this movie, Jeremy Theobald, Lucy Russell and John Nolan make cameo appearances in Batman Begins, also by the same director. There's a Batman symbol on the protagonist's apartment door.^{[citation needed]}