Following

So, the other night I found that Following (1998) was on the instant streaming on Netflix. I wrote a previous post declaring my love for Christopher Nolan's writing and films a few posts ago. This film has only increased my love. Following Nolan's debut of a feature length film. It's in black and white and feels a bit like Memento when watching.

The film is about an aspiring and meek writer, Bill, who one day decides to follow a stranger. After doing this, however, Bill finds himself inclined to follow even more strangers. He follows them to learn more about who they are, what they do, and where they go, so that maybe from them he can get an idea for a character in one of his stories. Bill establishes a set of rules that he must abide by to make following these strangers seem like an ok thing to do. However, he quickly breaks this rule and finds himself following a particular man, Cobb, on a regular basis.

One day, Cobb notices that Bill has been following him and decides to confront him on it. Similar to Bill, Cobb has an interest in peoples' behavior, but instead of following them to learn about them, he burgles them. Cobb decides to take Bill along with him to show him what he does on a daily basis. After the two burgle a particular woman's flat, Bill becomes captivated by her because of all the pictures she has of herself and decides to follow her next. Eventually, he decides to introduce himself to the woman and they begin seeing each other. She tells him this awful story about what her ex-boyfriend did to someone else in her apartment. These leads to Bill wanting to help her and he offers to do a favor for her that involves a break-in. Cobb becomes enraged once he learns about this. What has Bill gotten himself into? He'll soon find out.

Following: The Trailer

I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a thriller that makes you think. It is also full of suspense. Nolan likes to put films out of chronological order. I love that. Nolan always writes about intriguing characters as well. I found Cobb (yeah, this is the same name as Leo's character in Inception) to be the most interesting of them, which does not mean that I  approve of how that character behaves, but he sure is engrossing.