For What It's Worth

I love Easter Eggs. Not the actual ones with candy in them so much, but the kind of hidden insider jokes put in the background of movies and such. I found this one in the latest update of my cataloging software. I hope you are geeky enough to find it as funny as I did.

This review must begin with a certain upfront declaration: I love the directorial work of Christopher Nolan. I greatly enjoy each and everyone of his films. Despite this I had never seen his independent directorial debut, Following. It is an intriguing little neo-nior piece shot in black-and-white. About a writer who decides to start following strangers around. It is a simple yet fascinating premise. What happens when you glance over a crowd and stop your eyes on one person? They no longer are part of the crowd. They become an individual with a life and a history. 

This late-in-the-game viewing makes for an interesting exercise to see the early beginnings of such a successful line of work. It is impossible to view this movie now apart from the work that would follow it. When I saw Inception it felt like the culmination of the themes and examinations that Nolan had begun with Memento. All of Nolan’s films in some way or another examine the idea of Identity, the idea of the self. What makes me who I am? What defines my reality? Am I really the best judge of my own self? Many of Nolan’s characters deal with self-denial or aren’t what they say they are. It was this very theme that has made his iteration of the character of Bruce Wayne/Batman so interesting and successful.

Nolan has explored these ideas through many means, including the use of an uncertain narrative; often in a non-chronological telling. Following feels like the prelude to this “style”. There are three distinct acts that happen in a very direct chronological fashion but they are edited together in such a way that the story is told by jumping back and forth between them. It is a technique that here feels more novel than necessary; unlike Memento where the story relies and being told backwards. The real payoff here is the ending where all of the plot points get wrapped up in a very clean but very unexpected way.

This is a film that succeeds more in theory than in execution simply due to budget and time constraints. Nolan suffers from having to do the camera work himself. The obvious hand-held feel makes you very aware that there is another person in the scene with the actors and often pulls you out of the story. While I really did enjoy the film and I recognize why it won some festival awards at the time, it better serves as the front bookend of better things to come.

A simple sign of what would follow.

1. Be still, my soul: the Lord is on your side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; leave to your God to order and provide; in every change God faithful will remain. Be still, my soul: your best, your heavenly friend through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: your God will undertake to guide the future, as in ages past. Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake; all now mysterious shall be bright at last. Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know the Christ who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on when we shall be forever with the Lord, when disappointment, grief, and fear are gone, sorrow for forgot, love’s purest joys restored. Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, all safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Superman saves the Day again!!

Inception as an Infographic

ps Don’t look at too carefully if you haven’t seen the movie yet