Transcendent Independent: Films you haven’t seen—yet

By Jim Feighan
Collegian Reporter
September 13, 2006

This Week’s Film: Following
Director: Christopher Nolan

“When I started to follow people, specific people… that’s when the trouble started.” – Bill

Every day, we walk around Philadelphia, unacquainted with the crowd of people around us. We constantly see dozens of faces flash by and tend to think nothing of it. But what if there was a stranger’s face that kept reappearing, shadowing you from behind?

In the 1998 thriller, Following, director Christopher Nolan plays with the concept of stalking gone wrong.

Following centers around Bill (Jeremy Theobald) and his seemingly harmless infatuation with randomly tailing strangers around London. A lonely middle-aged writer, Bill follows strangers to gain inspiration for his suffering works. But what was formerly a mere pleasure becomes an addiction once he begins targeting specific people to shadow.

Of all the people he follows, one man knows what Bill is up to. Cobb (Alex Haw), a sarcastic robber, catches Bill and enlightens him to an even more voyeuristic act: daytime burglary.

To make matters even worse for Bill, he unintentionally becomes enamored with a woman whom Cobb robbed. He feels pressure to be truthful to her, and yet he looks up to and wants to please Cobb as best he can.

As the movie progresses, Bill is sucked deeper and deeper into places that he couldn’t have imagined. He must decide whom he can trust and figure out who knows the truth about him.

Directed by acclaimed director Christopher Nolan, the film relies on a few of the signature filming techniques he brought to his first commercial success, Memento. As he did in parts of that film, he uses black and white to provide a gritty feel. Another trademark of his, placing events of the protagonist’s life in a cluttered order, forces the audience to place the pieces together to make sense of the film.

Clocking in at a little over an hour, Following is the perfect film if you’re in the mood for a quick, smart and edgy mystery/thriller. It’s also a must-see for Nolan fans, as it foreshadows the auteur-like proficiency and talent he brought to Memento, Insomnia and Batman Begins.

feighanj1@lasalle.edu