As Christopher Nolan’s career continued, the next step was to walk.
By Meg Shields Published January 30, 2023
Welcome to The Queue — your daily distraction of curated video content from across the web. Today, we watch a video essay exploring how Christopher Nolan’s film debut, Following, set the pace for the rest of his filmography.
It’s always a treat to visit an established director’s first feature. Whether they’re attractively scrappy and unpolished (like John Carpenter) dark star) or unfairly sophisticated (like George Lucas) THX1138).
Another “first movie” wrinkle I personally enjoy is when a filmmaker’s debut feels like the text of a career-wide mistake. The Coen brothers’ first film, blood simplefeels protean like this: all the quirks, traits, and flourishing vessels that make a Coen Brothers movie felt Like a Coen Brothers movie.
And the same can be said, as the following video essay claims Continueannounced the arrival of 1998 indie neo-noir Christopher NolanA seemingly unbudgeted black-and-white character study Dunkirk or TenetNolan’s debut feature includes the bugaboo seeds that would come to define Nolan’s style. Continue‘s fingerprints are all over the director’s subsequent work.
Set in London Continue It tells of a struggling writer (Jeremy Theobald) who habitually tracks strangers. He tells himself it’s about finding inspiration. His strict rules ensure that his hobby never takes an ominous left turn. Things begin to spiral out of control when the writer finds himself pulled by the gravitational pull of a petty thief named Cobb (Alex Ho).
Spoilers ahead…and don’t forget to peek over your shoulder from time to time.
Watch “Following (1998) – Establishing Nolan’s Style”
who made this?
This video essay on how Christopher Nolan’s debut was made Continuewhich set the stage for his career you have seen the movieWriter based in England Oliver Bagshaw He has created a channel and video essays on films ranging from cult films to classic strains of film history. You can subscribe to their YouTube channel here.
Other videos like this
Related Topics: Christopher Nolan, Cue
Meg Shields is the humble farm boy of your dreams and a senior contributor to Film School Rejects. She is currently running her three columns on FSR (The Queue, How’d They Do That?, and Horrorscope). She is also the curator of One Perfect Shot and a hired freelance writer. You can see Meg screaming about John Boorman’s “Excalibur” on Twitter here: @TheWorstNun. (Girlfriend).
recommended reading