following
AMG AllMovie Guide:
Top
Following
Plot
Christopher Nolan made his feature directorial debut with this 16mm black-and-white British suspense drama, shot on weekends with a $6,000 budget. Wannabe writer Bill, aka "The Young Man" (Jeremy Theobald), is "between jobs," living in impoverished circumstances with no prospects, plots, or outlines. Desperate for ideas, he begins following people in the street to "gather material," more accurately described as a venture into voyeurism. When Cobb (Alex Haw) realizes he's being followed, he confronts Bill. Cobb explains that he goes one step further -- entering people's apartments not only for theft but also to spy on private possessions. The notion of illegal intrusions excites Bill, but graduating to the next plateau beyond break-ins sets him up as a fall guy. Shown at the 1998 San Francisco Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, RoviReview
The roots of Memento are evident in Christopher Nolan's brilliant first feature, the black-and-white puzzle Following, which previews the filmmaker's fondness for unconventional chronology and deceitful trickery. Influenced by the films of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, Nolan fills the screen with antique typewriters, old-model televisions, and timeless wardrobes, transforming his shoestring budget into an homage to the French New Wave that might have taken place or been filmed decades ago. It's one of many ways Nolan is conscious of time, a construct he manipulates on the most noticeable level by fragmenting the chronology according to a precise expository pattern in his head. In addition to more traditionally structured scenes, his film contains a series of tantalizing, non-sequential images that reveal themselves as the narrative unfolds, the various haircuts and facial bruises of his lead character (Jeremy Theobald) eventually coalescing into coherence. Following starts as a profile of a man who shadows random people out of a sociological interest tinged with perverse loneliness, which itself might have sustained a brisk, 71-minute movie. But then Nolan changes direction by introducing a different loner, Alex Haw's Cobb, who deflects focus toward a dispassionate treatise on burglary, the value of sentimental possessions and the sanctity of violated privacy. Nor is this the last narrative twist up the director's sleeve. The dialogue and acting are both quite mature for the resources available to Nolan, especially given his own inexperience. In fact, Memento might have been billed as "from the director of Following" if the film had gotten enough exposure to be recognized as the debut of a major talent. ~ Derek Armstrong, RoviCast
- Jeremy Theobald - The Young Man
- Alex Haw - Cobb
- Lucy Russell - The Blonde
- John Nolan - The Policeman
Credit
Tristan Martin - Art Director, Christopher Nolan - Director, Gareth Heal - Editor, Ivan Cornell - Lighting, Barbara Stepansky - Lighting, David Julyan - Composer (Music Score), Christopher Nolan - Cinematographer, Jeremy Theobald - Producer, Christopher Nolan - Producer, Emma Thomas - Producer, Ivan Cornell - Sound/Sound Designer, David Julyan - Sound/Sound Designer, David Lloyd - Sound/Sound Designer, James Wheeler - Sound/Sound Designer, Christopher Nolan - Screenwriter| Followers (2000 Film), Followed Home (2010 Film) | |
| Following Her Heart (1994 Film), Following Sean (2004 Film) |
Related Videos:
Top
following
American Heritage Dictionary:
Top
fol·low·ing
(fŏl'ō-ĭng) 
adj.
A group or gathering of admirers, adherents, or disciples: a lecturer with a large following.
prep.
Subsequent to; after: Following dinner, brandy was served in the study.
adj.
- Coming next in time or order: in the following chapter.
- Now to be enumerated: The following people will report for duty.
- Blowing in the same direction as the course of a ship or an aircraft. Used of wind.
A group or gathering of admirers, adherents, or disciples: a lecturer with a large following.
prep.
Subsequent to; after: Following dinner, brandy was served in the study.
Fowler's Modern English Usage:
Top
following
has long been used as a participial adjective either qualifying a noun, as in for the following reasons, or by itself as a quasi-noun, as in The following are my reasons. From this has developed a use of following as a quasi-preposition independent of any noun:
Used car prices are going up, following the Budget—Observer, 1968.This use was not a problem for Fowler (1926) but Gowers (1965) condemned it in cases where the connection between the two events is 'merely temporal' and the preposition after would serve. In the example just given, there is a strong element of consequence, and so the use of following is perhaps justified, but this is not so in the example that follows, in which after could have been used with no loss of meaning:
Following the meeting it was decided a group of five or six representatives from Acklam will regularly meet with council officers to discuss the issues and the way forward—Evening Gazette, 2007.In some cases there is even a possibility of ambiguity with other meanings of following: Police have arrested a man following extensive inquiries.
| folk etymology, folk, folio | |
| foot, footprint, for |
Wiley Book of Astronomy:
Top
following
A term used to describe the side of an object, or member of a group of objects, that comes into view later in the motion across the sky or across the face of a rotating body. Examples include the following limb of a planet, the following spot in a group of sunspots, and the following component of a binary star. What comes into view earlier is said to be preceding.
Roget's Thesaurus:
Top
following
adjective
- Occurring right after another: coming, next. See precede/follow, time.
noun
- The body of persons who admire a public personality, especially an entertainer: audience, public. See like/dislike.
- A group of attendants or followers: entourage, retinue, suite, train. See over/under.
Antonyms by Answers.com:
Top
following
adj
Definition: happening, being next or after
Antonyms: first, leading, preceding
n
Definition: persons of an interest, belief
Antonyms: disbelievers, nonbelievers
Oxford Dictionary of the US Military:
Top
following
adj. (of a wind or sea) blowing or moving in the same direction as the course of a vehicle or vessel.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Following
For other uses, see Following (disambiguation).
| 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 |
| Editing by | Gareth Heal Christopher Nolan |
| Studio | Syncopy Films Next Wave Films |
| Distributed by | Zeitgeist Films (US) Momentum Pictures (UK) |
| Release date(s) | 12 September 1998 (Toronto International Film Festival) 2 April 1999 (New York City) 5 November 1999 (UK) |
| Running time | 69 min (1:09) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6,000[1] |
| Box office | $48,482 |
Following is a 1998 British neo-noir film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. 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.
His debut film, it was designed to be as inexpensive as possible to make: scenes were heavily rehearsed so that just one or two takes were needed, thus economising on 16 mm film stock, the production's greatest expense, and for which Nolan was paying from his salary. Without expensive professional lighting equipment, Nolan mostly used available light. Apart from providing the script and direction, Nolan also did the photography, editing and production himself. The film has an unusual, non-linear plot structure which has been a feature in several of Nolan's films.
|
Contents
|
Synopsis
A struggling, unemployed young writer (credited as "The Young Man") takes to following strangers around the streets of London, ostensibly to find inspiration for his first novel. Initially, he sets strict rules for himself regarding whom he should follow and for how long, but soon discards them as he focuses on a well-groomed, handsome man in a dark suit. The man in the suit, having noticed he is being followed, quickly confronts the Young Man and introduces himself as "Cobb". Cobb reveals that he is a serial burglar and invites The Young Man to accompany him on 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 targets' flats, and doing things such as drinking their wine. He explains that his true passion is using the shock of robbery and violation of property to make his victims re-examine their lives. He sums up his attitude thus: "You take it away, and show them what they had."
The young man is thrilled by Cobb's lifestyle. He attempts break-ins of his own, as Cobb encourages and guides him. At Cobb's suggestion, he alters his appearance, cutting his hair short and wearing a dark suit. The young man assumes the name "Daniel Lloyd" based on the credit card Cobb gives to him and begins to pursue a relationship with a blonde woman whose flat he and Cobb burglarized. The blonde turns out to be the girlfriend of a small-time gangster (known only as the "Bald Guy") whom she broke up with after he murdered a man in her flat. Soon, the blonde confides that the Bald Guy is blackmailing her with incriminating photographs. The Young Man breaks into the Bald Guy's safe, but is caught in the act by an unidentified man. The Young Man bludgeons the man with a claw hammer and flees with the Bald Guy's money and photos. Upon returning to his flat, he finds that the photos are innocuous modeling shots.
Confronting the blonde, the Young Man learns that she and Cobb have been working together to manipulate him into mimicking Cobb's burglary methods. Cobb had recently discovered a murdered woman's body during one of his burglaries, and is attempting to deflect suspicion from himself by making it appear as though multiple burglars share his MO.
The Young Man leaves to turn himself in to the police. The blonde reports her success to Cobb, who then reveals that he actually works for the Bald Guy. The story about the murdered woman was part of a plot to deceive both the blonde and the Young Man: The blonde has been blackmailing the Bald Guy with evidence from the murder he committed in her flat, and he wants her murdered in such a way that it cannot be connected to him. Cobb bludgeons the blonde to death with the same claw hammer that the Young Man used during the burglary of the Bald Guy's safe and leaves it at the scene. The police, checking out the Young Man's story, find the blonde murdered and the claw hammer with his finger prints on it. The Young Man is implicated for all of Cobb's crimes, along with the murder of the blonde woman. Meanwhile, Cobb vanishes into a crowd.
Cast
- 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
Production
Following was written, directed, filmed, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan.[2] It was filmed in London, on black-and-white 16mm film stock. 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.[2] |
” |
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 low-budget shoot.[2] With little money, limited equipment, and a cast and crew who were all in full-time employment on weekdays, the production took a full year to complete.[2]
To conserve expensive film stock, every scene in the film was rehearsed extensively to ensure that the first or second take could be used in the final edit.[2] Filming took place on Saturdays for three or four months, Nolan shot about fifteen minutes of footage each day. This time frame also moderated the cost of film-stock and allowed him to pay for it out of his salary.[3] For the most part, Nolan filmed without professional film lighting equipment, largely employing available light. This was made easier by the decision to use 16 mm black and white film.[3] He also used the homes of his friends and family as locations.[2]
Reception
Following received generally positive reviews. Its aggregate review score from Rottentomatoes.com is 76%.[4]
Los Angeles Times reviewer Kevin Thomas 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."[5] TV Guide called it "short, sharp and tough as nails",[6] praising its fast-paced storytelling and 'tricky, triple-tiered flashback structure'.[6] David Thompson of Sight and Sound commented that "Nolan shows a natural talent for a fluent handheld aesthetic."[7]
However, Tony Rayns 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".[8] Empire's Trevor Lewis questioned the skill of the film's inexperienced cast, saying that they "lack the dramatic ballast to compensate for [Nolan's] erratic plot elisions."[9] In contrast, David Thompson was of the opinion that the "unfamiliar cast acquit themselves well in a simple naturalistic style."[7]
References
- ^ "Following (1999)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=following.htm. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Duncker, Johannes (2002-06-06). "The Making of Following". christophernolan.net. http://www.christophernolan.net/following_making.php. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ a b Tobias, S. Interview:Christopher Nolan, avclub.com, 5 June 2002. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
- ^ "Rotten Tomatoes". http://uk.rottentomatoes.com/m/following/?page=1&critic=approved&sortby=date&name_order=asc&view=#mo. Retrieved 2010-09-14.
- ^ Thomas, Kevin (4 June 1999). "Following: 'Following' the Twisting Path of Sinister, Neo Noir Intrigue". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/04/entertainment/ca-43950. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ a b Fox, Ken. "Following: Review". TVGuide.com. http://www.tvguide.com/movies/following/review/134067. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ^ a b Thompson, David (December 1999). "Following (1998)". Sight and Sound. http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/review/266. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ Rayns, Tony. "Following". Time Out. http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/66855/following.html. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ Lewis, Trevor. "Empire Reviews Central - Review of Following". Empire. http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=5201. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
External links
- Following at the Internet Movie Database
- Following at AllRovi
|
|||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
Top
Following
Dansk (Danish)
prep. - efter
n. - tilhængerskare
adj. - følgende, påfølgende, medgående
Nederlands (Dutch)
aanhang, volgend, daaropvolgend, na
Français (French)
prep. - suite à, à la suite de, après
n. - adeptes, partisans, disciples, ce qui suit, le(s) suivant(s)
adj. - prochain, ultérieur, suivant, arrière (le vent)
Deutsch (German)
n. - Anhängerschaft, das Nachfolgende
adj. - folgend
prep. - nach
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ακολουθία, κουστωδία, οπαδοί
adj. - ακόλουθος, επακόλουθος, επόμενος, κατοπινός, εξής
Italiano (Italian)
seguaci, seguente, prossimo
Português (Portuguese)
n. - comitiva (f)
adj. - seguinte
Русский (Russian)
последователи, приверженцы, постоянные читатели, следующий, нижеперечисленный, вслед за
Español (Spanish)
prep. - después de , a raíz de
n. - partidarios, seguidores, discípulos
adj. - próximo, que viene, siguiente, subsiguiente
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - följe
adj. - följande
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
在...之后, 下列各项, 党羽, 部下, 下列的, 其次的
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
prep. - 在...之後
n. - 下列各項, 黨羽, 部下
adj. - 下列的, 其次的
한국어 (Korean)
prep. - ~잇따라, 계속하여, ~의 뒤에
n. - 수행원, 제자
adj. - 다음의, 순풍의
日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 次の, 次に述べる, 以下の, 追い風の, 順潮の
n. - 次に述べるもの, 支持者
prep. - 後で
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) اللاحق , التابع (صفه) لاحق , تابع
עברית (Hebrew)
prep. - הבא אחרי
n. - תומכים, קהל מעריצים
adj. - הבא(ים)
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
TV listings
Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Movie Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Read more
American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
Wiley Book of Astronomy
Copyright © 2004 by Wiley-Blackwell. Wiley and the Wiley logo are registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Used here by license. Read more
Roget's Thesaurus
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Read more
Oxford Dictionary of the US Military
The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read more
Wikipedia on Answers.com
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Following.
Read more
