Following (1998)
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Following Movie Review
Following is a 1998 neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan. It’s one of the director’s best films.
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“Just because you broke into people’s homes
doesn’t mean you need to look like a fucking burglar“
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It is about 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. To me this is a rare neo-noir movie that deserves that classification as all of those themes are present here: paranoia, convoluted triangles, twists, crime and a darker, black-and-white photography and atmosphere.
The characters have no names besides Cobb who uses a fake name. I found him truly a terrific villain and the highlight of the entire movie. The woman was typical, and the protagonist to me felt ridiculously naive. I got that initial twist very quickly as it was obvious, and this character to me should have been at least a bit smarter. But overall, they’re all solid, and the performances from these unknown actors are actually quite good.
The movie has its problems. One is the fact that I got the first twist early, but the second one caught me by surprise and that one was great. Secondly, the movie was so obviously made on a very low budget that some scenes were quite amateurish, especially those quick, sudden cuts as well as a somewhat forced non-linear structure.
But the black-and-white photography is quite strong and the movie looks mostly very good for such a small budget. The score is also pretty good. I particularly admired the atmosphere of the movie which is very noirish in its feel, and the movie was at its best when it focused on the psychological aspects of paranoia, burgling, following etc.
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Part of me wanted for the movie to remain only in the lower criminal activities as that would have been refreshing and more realistic, but then again Cobb is so great a villain and the twists worked that I didn’t mind that in the end. This was very well written and directed by Nolan and only in the editing department he struggled quite a bit. But it still is very good and one of his best movies in my opinion.
Following is clumsily edited and somewhat forced in its non-linear structure, but for the most part it’s a great showcase of what can be achieved on a shoestring budget. The noirish atmosphere is superbly conveyed, the villain is excellent, the twist is fine and the movie is psychologically interesting and quite dark. In the editing department, Nolan struggled here, but he both wrote and directed this movie so well. It’s one his best, most underrated films.
