Following1999

68/100 The first ever directorial effort of Christopher Nolan, a brilliant noir that perfectly shows off what makes him such a visionary while also showcasing some early examples of the flaws common among his films. The story here is certainly interesting throughout, even with a slight pacing issue. Twists are of course par for the course in noir movies, but here its aided by Nolan using his signature trick of non-linear storytelling. As a result, the story comes off as very intriguing. This movie does suffer from some amateur acting, which makes sense seeing as the actors are all merely friends of Nolan. One minor character in particular is acted terribly. However, Nolan's directing and script still shine through into making the acting easier to withstand, if not completely bearable. The production also shines through, and not in a good way. This movie had a budget of a mere six thousand dollars, and it shows. Fight scenes are clunky, though that's not something that's going to improve, the audio quality is poor and in some cases its incredibly obvious the camera is handheld. Credit where its due once again, Nolan figures out how to use natural lighting to make scenes pop, but everything has an air of incredibly low budget. Its at least helped along by the black-and-white, which masks some of the constraints and gives it an old-timey noir feel. I'm kind of mixed about the film's short runtime, barely over an hour in length. On one hand, this means we don't have much time to get to know these characters or get attached, but on the other hand, it makes sure the movie doesn't overstay its welcome. This is a movie I'm incredibly mixed on, but weighing the positives against the negatives, I see far more good than I do bad. More than anything, this is like a concept sketch of Nolan's style, a promise of greatness to come. On its own, however, its a perfectly average film that's worth checking out.