Following is the first film from Christopher Nolan, and is a neo-noir crime thriller that was released in 1998. It’s about an aspiring writer in London who has picked up the habit of following people around the city and seeing where they go and what they do. This isn’t for a sexual sort of purpose but rather to satisfy his curiosities in an attempt to spark some creative writing juices. But the protagonist, described in the end credits as ‘The Young Man’, has set himself rules of how he does his following and this includes not following someone more than once.

However, he runs himself into trouble one day when he is following a man named Cobb and he gets caught. Cobb is able to suss out The Young Man pretty quickly, and they find a mutual connection over their interest in people. However, Cobb’s methods are far more criminal and somewhat voyeuristic. He is a burglar who breaks into people’s house not to steal their money or valuables, but rather to see who someone is from the things they hold most sentimentally dear. Cobb’s attitude is premised on him getting an adrenaline rush out of trying to build an impression of the person who’s house he’s broken in to and he takes their stuff to deliberately disrupt and distress.

It’s incredible to think that this is where the director of The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010) and Dunkirk (2017), to name a few, began. Nolan is very much on the way to establishing himself on the Mount Rushmore of film directors with his distinct style and diverse filmography. One classic Nolan motif that runs through all his films and is used in a poignant way in Following is the manipulation of time and having a non-linear story line that jumps around different points in the plot. For example, we see in one scene The Young Man with a black eye and a beaten up face. Of course, this is somewhat jarring as he looked completely fine thirty seconds ago but this is just one of the many ways Nolan creates intrigue and keeps us waiting in expectation.

This is by no means a prototypical Nolan masterpiece. It is a very good film but not a great one necessarily. And nor should it be. Nolan made this film on a shoestring budget of $6,000 which really is peanuts and it has a runtime of a mere 69 minutes. At times it feels slightly like a student film in terms of production value with acting that you’d place in the solid category. I mean I will cut everyone some major slack here. Nolan not only directed this film, he wrote it, produced and even was the cinematographer for it. Also, none of the actors really have much of a resumé to boast, they were just normal people and friends shooting this film. The lead actor’s only other major acting credits, apart from in this film, were as ‘Young Gotham Water Board Technician’ in Batman Begins (2005). Interestingly, the only other member of the cast to have a Wikipedia page is Dick Bradsell, who plays ‘The Bald Guy’, who apparently in real life invented the Espresso Martini. Can someone fact check that please?

But this film, for what it is and what is was working with, is gorgeous. I love the use of black and white, and the screeching score at time made this film feel very gritty and very real. Nolan’s major strength has always been storytelling and the narrative throughout is always entertaining and engaging. Like any great neo-noir, creating mystery is pivotal and this film does that in spades.

If you haven’t seen this film. And let’s be honest, barely anyone has – then I’d highly encourage you to do so. If you’re a Nolan fan you’ll see some of the inspirations for his more notable later works, particularly Memento (2000) and The Prestige (2006). If you’re a fan of the film noir genre you won’t like this film, you’ll love it. But if you’re a fan of cinema, which I hope you are, you’ll get to see this small independent film that was where one of the great film directors of our era made his debut. This film has some twists and some turns, and it for that reason I don’t want to divulge too much about the plot. However, at barely over an hour this film is snappy and steams along to a striking conclusion.