Following - 1998

You have a $6000, 16mm camera in your hand. What will you do to turn the world towards you?

Nolan did "Following" and the rest as they say is history.I searched the web umpteen times to get this flick but many a times all in vain. However eventually i got this and when i complete watching this I made my mind that Christopher Nolan is the best contemporary director we have alive in the planet. Such a genius he is!

Following is a piece of art shot by Nolan himself for months since they had to shoot only during the weekends because whoever acted( or lived? ) in this flick had other jobs to do. However Following delivers with its sheer brilliance and pure cinematic awesomeness the director created!

Following looks like a precursor to Memento with different story but with same execution and its narration style. A wannabe writer who runs out of ideas starts following random people for creating interesting characters for his writing. He has certain rules not to get into trouble while shadowing somebody. When he breaks his own rules things get nasty and movie ends with a fine twist which i can bet you, you cant think of.The story is in non chronological order as per Nolan's classic style.

The dialogues are simply brilliant. I can see Nolan's literature degree helping him highly here. "Everyone has a box ," "You steal them and show them what they got" will be remembered for years to come by his fans. But not without any reason. Every word each character utter has a reason and a deep underlying meaning to it. The scenes just flow in random without any linear structure which makes us engrosses all the time. The bg score is minimal and its best when used. The editing is slick with the flick running over just over an hour. Photography is again brilliant. How many brilliance in one movie? :( Shot using a 16mm camera the whole flick is in black and white hinting its budget, but never compromises in its quality.

Nolan shows the world a phenomenal and a path breaking flick can be made with his knack for making movies even when given a constraint of budget. After seeing this somehow Kubrick's quote came to my mind which says " If its written, it can be definitely made into a movie". Similarly as the movies famous dialogue says "You steal them and show them what they got", Nolan here steals our heart and shows us what he has got. Needless to say its sheer brilliance.