Dark Knight Rises Week: Christopher Nolan – Film by Film Part One

Jul 14, 2012 No Comments by WLM[mty]

Christopher Nolan is a modern enigma; he is one of the world’s most successful filmmakers yet he has an open disdain for modern cinema’s over-reliance on CG and recently spoke quite candidly of his dislike of 3D. Added to this the fact that his films highlight a pre-occupation with obsession, grief, fear and loss and his willingness – bordering almost on need – to mangle a story into anything but a linear shape and you end up with, on paper at least, a director firmly of the Kubrick/Hitchcock school. Yet to suggest that he is old fashioned in any way would be a mistake; he has married his concerns to an uncanny understanding of what makes a blockbuster movie tick (his last two films made two billion dollars between them) and swiftly, almost effortlessly, risen to the very top of the Hollywood heap.

When The Dark Knight Rises opens later this month the world will ring out with the sound of Warner’s tills overflowing and while no-one is debating whether or not this film will make a ton of money, just how far it will go is another question. In celebration of his career so far and in intense anticipation of The Dark Knight Rises, we look back at the films of Christopher Nolan.

Following (1998)

A writer, looking for inspiration, has taken to following strangers in the street, watching their movements from afar. Soon he crosses paths with Cobb, a slick, well-dressed burglar who is seemingly more interested in the thrill than in the theft. They begin to break into properties together, but when the writer becomes involved with a mysterious blonde, things take a dangerous turn…

Famously shot at weekends with friends and family, Following is a great little debut. Shot in mostly natural light and in the hidden back streets of London, it’s a modern noir, almost a fable, a dark urban tale of a man who – inevitably – gets in over his head. Shot in grainy black white, its a satisfying, twisty tale, but it also serves to introduce us to a few of Nolan’s future preoccupations and techniques, not least when it’s fractured, jagged narrative forces us to reconsider what (we think) we already know, much as Memento’s non-linear telling would two years later. Designed from the writing stage to be shot easily and rehearsed extensively to cut down on film waste, it had a reported budget of less than $6000 (compared to say, the $28,000 of Kevin Smith’s far less ambitious Clerks five years earlier); that it stands up better than most indie debuts is a real testament to Nolan’s intelligence and pragmatism.

Memento (2000)

Leonard Shelby’s wife is killed in a savage attack that also leaves him, after a severe head injury, unable to form new memories. When the police do not believe his story about there being a second attacker, he decides to take matters into his own hands…

Memento is where Nolan really showed the world what he could do and marked the point where most people (or at least us geeky film-buffs) stood up and paid attention. Gritty visuals and great performances aside, it was the structure of the film that captured most people’s imagination; with scenes playing out both chronologically and in reverse order until they meet in the middle, Nolan created a real head-trip, a cinematic puzzle to be solved. That he managed to pull off such nimble games in terms of the film’s structure without detracting from the emotional punch of Leonard’s quest for revenge was the film’s real success and told those of us watching that we had just seen the arrival of a very special new talent indeed.

Insomnia (2002)

A distinguished cop travels to Alaska to advise in the search for the killer of a local schoolgirl while back home Internal Affairs are looking for proof of evidence tampering in one of the high profile cases that made his name. With Alaska’s constant sunlight leaving him sleepless, he begins to unravel as a tragic accident, followed by a hasty decision, leave him at the mercy of the very killer he came to catch…

Another big bump in budget saw Nolan remaking a Norwegian thriller for his third film. Insomnia found him working with a full on A-List cast, including Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hilary Swank. It’s a cracking little psycho-thriller, Pacino’s mental and physical deterioration throughout the film is beautifully played and Nolan keeps the tension tight all the while. It’s beautifully shot with information drip-fed to the audience at just the right pace, but it fell flat for many, especially after the gymnastics of Memento. Nolan though had proved himself responsible with the studio’s money and resources, once more going up a fair few levels in terms of budget and scale and – once again – proving that he was more than up to the task. Many critics felt that he was beginning to tread water. Nolan, it was felt, needed a new direction, something to refocus him.