Writer/director Christopher Nolan never went to film school, but you’d never guess from this zero-budget feature which looks, talks & acts like a graduation project from the smartest kid in class. A beginner’s film noir pastiche, it might be afterglow off the ‘80s Neo-Noir revival. (Perhaps unnoticed because the over-saturated color & formal set-ups of those films gets replaced by mournful monochrome & handheld jitters.) Jeremy Theobald is physically right as a failing young writer filling his days aimlessly following strangers, hoping to find a story. Instead, one finds him. Alex Haw, as a deceptive fellow who just may be following him. Or does he want to get caught in one his burglaries, swiping sellable goods from apartments when he hopes no one is home. Soon, these two are partners in trade and romance. You thought Nolan would leave out the classic femme fatale (Lucy Russell)? But who has the upper hand? Who’s leading whom? What’s being staged for effect and who’s being set up to take the fall from the small fortune in cash hidden in an office safe? Nolan giving this story his preferred non-linear timeline treatment; counting on that approach to add depth, complexity and a puzzling vibe. (Succeeding at only one of the three.) Something that’s proved to be an Achilles Heel in about half of Nolan's subsequent films.
DOUBLE-BILL: A very short double-bill: Nolan’s apprentice short DOODLEBUG/’97 (it’s included on the Criterion edition of FOLLOWING), playing like some TWILIGHT ZONE episode (or is it ONE STEP BEYOND?), but reduced down to its essence at less than three minutes. (The disc also holds an alternate ‘Linear Cut’ of FOLLOWING - not seen here,)
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