following

This article is about a film. For other meanings see wikt:following.

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	70 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$6,000[1]

Following is a 1998 film noir 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. The film was made on a tiny budget,^[2] and features an unusual non-linear plot structure.

Plot

A struggling, unemployed young writer takes to following strangers around the streets of London, ostensibly to find inspiration for his new 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 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. 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. At Cobb's suggestion, he also alters his appearance, cutting his hair short and wearing a dark suit. He attempts break-ins of his own, as Cobb encourages and guides him. The young man begins to pursue a relationship with a blonde woman whom he meets at a bar and who claims to be the girlfriend of a local gangster. It is later revealed that he and Cobb had broken into her flat prior to this first meeting. Soon, the blonde confides that the gangster is blackmailing her with incriminating photographs. The young man breaks into the gangster's safe, but the only photos he finds are innocuous modelling shots. After confronting the blonde, he learns that she and Cobb have been manipulating him into mimicking Cobb's methods to frame him for Cobb's recent murder charge.

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 gangster and has a plan of his own. In order to stop the blonde from blackmailing the gangster with evidence from a recent murder, Cobb kills her. Once the young man finishes his story to the police, he learns that he has been framed for the blonde's murder, which was Cobb's plan for him all along. As the young man is arrested, Cobb disappears into a crowd.

Production

Following was written, directed, filmed, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan.^[2] It was filmed in London, England, 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:

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 shoot 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] For the most part, Nolan filmed without professional film lighting equipment, employing only available light. He also used the homes of his friends and family as locations.^[2]

Cast

Jeremy Theobald as The Young Man

• 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

Theobald, Russell and Nolan (director Christopher Nolan's uncle) would also later go on to have cameo appearances in Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins. Coincidentally, in one of the film's early scenes, there is a Batman logo on the flat's front door.

Reception

Following received generally positive reviews. Its aggregate review score from Rottentomatoes.com is 80%.^[3]

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."^[4] TV Guide called it "short, sharp and tough as nails",^[5] praising its fast-paced storytelling and 'tricky, triple-tiered flashback structure'.^[5] David Thompson of Sight and Sound commented that "Nolan shows a natural talent for a fluent handheld aesthetic."^[6]

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".^[7] 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."^[8] In contrast, David Thompson was of the opinion that the "unfamiliar cast acquit themselves well in a simple naturalistic style."^[6]

References

External links

• Following at the Internet Movie Database
• Following at Allmovie