Inside Chris Nolan's Following are two wolves. (There are also two wolves inside of Chris Nolan, but we'll get to that later.) One is a scruffy, wannabe writer who lacks self-confidence (he calls himself "Bill" but is credited as "Young Man") and the other is a smooth, coiffed and dashing thief named Cobb. These two men represent a duality. Could the difference between them simply be defined by clothing and swagger? Well, yes, in a way. And also no. This paradox, two sides of the same coin playing out their desires and goals simultaneously, repeats in every Nolan film. From Following to Oppenheimer, one of Nolan's favorite kinks is what does it look like when two men, who think they're different, are actually the yin to the other one's yang?
In fact, there are several of Nolan's go-to themes in Following: non-linear storytelling, an unreliable narrator and a puzzle box mystery. Following is ground zero for what would become a style so specific, it's referred to as 'Nolan-esque.' Being Nolan's first feature, the film's micro-budget and guerilla filmmaking result in both a stripped down aesthetic and a very short runtime. (The film is 70 minutes.) There aren't any IMAX cameras, in-camera effects or a spectacular sound design to immerse the viewer, sensorily. Instead, we get a modest neo-noir, in black and white, where the script is laid bare and the necessity of interesting characters is front and center.
Both Bill and Cobb are interesting. Bill has taken to shadowing people he's curious about, he wants to learn how people tick, for fodder for his writing. This is what he tells himself, at least. In reality, he doesn't have a strong sense of self and living vicariously through others temporarily fills this emptiness. This is another Nolan special: a character who tells himself something in an act of self-preservation. Along comes Cobb, whose own profession as a thief requires him to constantly look over his shoulder. Thus, he immediately realizes he's being followed and confronts Bill at a coffee shop. The two embark on a twisted mentor/mentee relationship wherein Cobb pushes Bill to take a real risk in his quest to know the inner-workings of people: break into their home to see how they live. At least this is what Cobb tells Bill. But we soon realize that this is a ruse and Bill is the mark. Cobb has different plans for Bill and he takes advantage of Bill's naivete at every turn as he lays out his agenda. The outcome of Cobb's scheme is shown to us in the second scene and again in the last. It's the origin of the echo "Now you're looking for the secret."
Following, being the origin of all of his films, is more than just the beginning of the Nolan-style narrative. Crafts like score and props took on a different hue when covering up bad audio or the lack of money for a gun (the movie opts for a hammer instead, to inventive results). Handheld camera work was the cheapest way to shoot and it adds to the jittery state of our protagonist. One can see the beginning of him learning director tricks in real time, ones that he would take into each successive project, no matter the budget. Shooting on such a small budget, with mostly non-professional actors, who were part of the college's film troop where he was studying, presented its own issue, too. The movie shot for almost a year, with cast and crew, only and whenever all were available (along with the camera equipment). The sporadic shooting schedule made Nolan stop to consider how we tell each other stories, how we rewind when we forget an important detail, and the speed at which we process personal events. While Nolan was forced to come up with creative bridges, time was his ultimate master. Another theme that emerges from this first effort.
Did I mention non-linear storytelling? Even Memento has a more linear non-linear structure than Following! (Dammit! The sentences I am forced to write in your name, Nolan!) You know, I have been studying his movies for a while now and have made every effort to understand his love of non-chronological, separate but simultaneous timelines, dreams within dreams, moving backwards while moving forwards, and every time I come back to two things. First, this isn't the order the story took place in but for the viewer that doesn't matter. We can only comprehend the order in which we are told a story. It's like the trick that keeps on giving. Fans of his movies watch them over and over to try and figure out how the trick works. It’s sort of the ultimate inception, if you will. Keep watching and the mechanics of the trick will appear. But the act of watching his movies, and this is the second thing I have realized, is a mental challenge. Our brains have to work harder when the information we are getting is temporal. We have to more quickly sort scenes, dialogue, characters and story beats to get oriented and I think some people simply like that experience. Either point might explain why his filmography's rewatchability and subsequent online discussion is in the stratosphere.
As a screenwriter, there is a more practical reason to use this technique. It ramps up suspense. And going back to the idea that while the story may be told out of order, we still see it in the order the writer wants us to. In essence, it makes the absolute most of the reveals. This isn't a technique Nolan invented, of course, but he does do it often and sometimes it's deployed with jaw-dropping results aka The Prestige. And some of his movies read as just clever by half. Here's where we meet Nolan's two wolves. One of them is pure, light on his feet, driven by nothing more than entertaining the audience. The other overwrites, over-compensates and is overly complicated. It's how the same filmography can encompass Memento and Oppenheimer alongside The Dark Knight Rises and Tenet. (For what it's worth, I love them all, sometimes specifically for their messiness.)
Following isn’t a spectacle but it is a small movie with big ambitions. Bill goes through a transformation as he takes on a new persona. His life becomes much more risky. He falls in with Cobb’s girlfriend (she’s called “The Blonde,” and, surprise, she does NOT pass the Bechdel test), taking an emotional risk. He betrays his more gentle nature as he tries in earnest to be someone he’s not, and the conclusion is what you would expect from the genre. But Bill will be changed from this experience of his, in the kind of way that he won’t ever be able to go back to the person he once was, he has learned too much.
Three out of four hidden pearl earrings.
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