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The Films of Christopher Nolan
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Director Christopher Nolan makes a movie
Christopher Nolan is an interesting filmmaker. He has grown from the smallest of indie films to the biggest of blockbusters, but along the way he has dealt with the same issues and explores the same topics that have interested him since the beginning. Continually going back to issues of identity, both personal and in relation to society, Nolan has made several distinct films that all share similar themes, and is amassing a body of work with a common thread (not unlike a certain energy drink creating action star).
Six films down and a seventh on the way next summer, here's a quick rundown of the films of Christopher Nolan, which would actually make for a pretty good film marathon (not unlike a certain suggested Tarantino-Fest).
1. Following (1998)
Shot on 16 mm black & white film over the course of a year, usually on weekends as spare money and time became available, Following is Christopher Nolan's film school. The actors were all friends of his, and all told, they did pretty well for themselves. This is the story of The Young Man, a long-haired writer who walks the streets of London looking for people to follow and observe. He picks a person, watches them and uses them for inspiration for his writing. He has rules set up for himself, but everyone knows rules are meant to be broken. Especially movie rules. And The Young Man breaks his rules and gets busted by Cobb, a person he is following. Cobb confronts The Young Man, who explains his reasons for the following and Cobb actually kind of digs it. He digs it so much that he invites The Young Man to follow him to an apartment. Not Cobb's though. He's breaking in, and not for the purposes of stealing, but just to disrupt the lives of those strangers, to make them feel out of control and vulnerable. The Young Man comes to like Cobb's methods and starts to emulate him. And that's pretty much the beginning of the end for The Young Man. He soon finds himself caught up in case of mistaken identity, an identity that he does not want to have. But will it be too late? Here Nolan is exploring the ideas of who we claim to be, individually, and who we really are. And the people we meet along the way, are they who they claim to be? What about alterior motives and hidden agendas? They exist, they are certainly out there, and this film noir story tells an interesting tale of real and fake identities.
2. Memento (2000)
Memento is much simpler to set up than Following, but that does not make it a simpler film to follow. Guy Pearce (The Proposition) plays Lenny, a guy looking to avenge the murder of his wife. The big problem? He can't form new memories (this is real), which makes investigating a tad bit difficult. His solution? Tattoos of course. He tattoos clues all over his body so he can remember what he is doing. Of course a yellow legal pad is nowhere near as cinematically satisfying as body art, even if it would be just as effective. Lenny gets help from Teddy (Joe Pantoliano, Baby's Day Out), meets a babe named Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss, Red Planet), and does his best to remember Sammy Jankis (Stephen Tobolowsky, Groundhog Day). Identity is a biggie in this one, as Lenny remembers who he was before his wife was murdered (and his brain was damaged), but struggles with who he has become. And how does one continue to shape their identity when they can no longer shape new memories? They are stuck in the past, a shell of who they once were. Lenny struggles with that, along with the whole "Who killed my wife" thing. It's a nice mix of psychological thriller and whodunit, and the movie wraps it all up quite nicely. Also nice to see Nolan giving his characters names. Not everyone can be The Young Man or The Blonde. Not bad at all for a second film.
3. Insomnia (2002)
Nolan followed up Memento with a bigger movie and with bigger stars. Insomnia (already eXamined here) stars Al Pacino (Two for the Money), Robin Williams (RV) and Hillary Swank (The Next Karate Kid). Pacino plays LAPD Detective Will Dormer, who heads out to Nightmute, Alaska to help the small town police with a serious murder. Williams plays Walter Finch, a local writer who ends up as a primo suspect for the murder. And Dormer has problems the first night when a combination of a guilty conscious and 24-hour daylight prevents him from sleeping (hence the title). His personal identity is in turmoil as he struggles with actions he has taken, actions that would be unbecoming of most police officers. Finch, on the other hand, seems to have little problem balancing his quieter, meeker self with a slightly more deranged side. This is also the first time that the story's location becomes important, as the Midnight Sun is only possible in certain parts of the world. And this may be the first time that the locale becomes a character, but it certainly won't be the last.
4. Batman Begins (2005)
Mr. Nolan enters Blockbuster Land with the Caped Crusader his'self. But first he had to take a defibrillator to the corpse left behind by Joel Schumacher's Batman and Robin. And he brought an even bigger cast along with him. Christian Bale (Newsies) smarms and mugs his way around as Bruce Wayne during the day, and growls through the night as Batman. Michael Caine (On Deadly Ground) classes up the joint as Wayne's butler Alfred. And despite this being a series reboot and origin story, Nolan continues the Batman movie tradition of multiple villains. Liam Neeson (Krull), Cillian Murphy (Red Eye), Ken Watanabe (The Last Samurai) and Tom Wilkinson (Black Knight) all take their turns being deliciously evil, and since that wasn't enough, Nolan also has roles for Rutger Hauer (The Hitcher), Morgan Freeman (Seven), Gary Oldman (True Romance) and Linus Roache (Law & Order). Nolan knows how to assemble them, that's for sure. He takes this opportunity to make a Batman blockbuster to explore the dual identity of Bruce/Batman, exploring how that identity was shaped and what happens when someone leads two very different lives. The identities of some of the villains get flipped around as well, adding to the gumbo. And of course, Gotham City is just as much a character as anyone in the movie, and its seedy, crime ridden underbelly is where most of this movie dwells, as it is from these dangerous streets that the one known as the Batman was born.
5. The Prestige (2006)
Nolan dials back the blockbuster dial just a bit with The Prestige, an adaptation of a book about early 1900's rival magicians who take turns sabotaging each other's acts, and ultimately, each other's lives. The budget is smaller and cast isn't as star studded, but the story is extremely strong, mixing sci-fi with historical fiction and a touch of magical realism. Bale goes 2 for 2 with Nolan and plays Alfred Borden, a magician who once worked side by side with fellow up and coming magician Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman, Kate & Leopold), but soon finds himself at odds with the man. What ensues is a series of tragic events that leads to devastating consequences and world altering revelations for both men. Angier is a man who hides his royal heritage and hoity-toity upbringing with an assumed name (in order to spare his uptight family the embarrassment of having a relative in the magic biz), and later comes to even bigger identity issues when he gets real life wizard Nikola Tesla (David Bowie!) to help him come up with the greatest magic trick anyone has ever seen. Borden, meanwhile, has an identity issue that is the exact opposite of the whole Batman/Bruce Wayne thing, an interesting flip of characters for Bale. Also going 2 for 2 with Nolan is Michael Caine, who gets the best line delivery of the movie when he explains how a mate told him what drowning was like. And of all the wide release trailers so far for Nolan's movies, The Prestige trailer is probably the best, almost making the movie look like a horror film. And I suppose it is, a horror film of the mind, a movie about the atrocities that men will do to get ahead, both to others and to themselves.
6. The Dark Knight (2008)
If you have not seen The Dark Knight by now, you are all alone. Nolan, Bale and Caine go 3 for 3 and team up together again for one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. No one saw this coming: Nolan made a very dark and heavy Batman movie, caring less for the toy tie-ins and more for the emotional ramifications of the characters. And the world latched on, showering the movie with money. This cast is bonkers, with Batman Begins alums Oldman, Freeman and Murphy coming back, and being joined by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Eckhart, Heath Ledger, Anthony Michael Hall, Eric Roberts, Michael Jai White, Tiny Lister and Nicky Katt. And this time around, Nolan dives into the identity of Gotham City even more, exploring what the presence of the Batman has done to its citizenry, both criminal and upstanding. And when the Joker comes around and challenges the civility and sanity of the city via Batman, the stakes get raised pretty high for everybody. A very violent PG-13 movie, with a downer ending and very few laughs in sight, The Dark Knight is a movie of its time, wrapped up in angst, anxiety and a general sense of loathing and dread. It also provided a technical first for Nolan, who filmes several action scenes with IMAX cameras, and plans to continue doing so with future films. And for the second time in a row, Caine gets the best line in the movie when Bale asks him how he found an elusive jewel thief in a Burmese forest, and Caine responds, "We burned the forest down."
7. Inception (coming Summer 2010)
Information has started to hit the interwebs about Mr. Nolan's follow up to one of the most successful movies of all time, Inception. It is a science fiction film, the budget is rumored to be around $200 million, and scattered bits of information are out there about the plot. There's something about blackmail and a machine that allows Leonardo D'Caprio (What's Eating Gilbert Grape?) to enter people's dreams. Which fits in Nolan's filmography quite nicely, as dreams are subconscious signifiers of our identities and go a long way to help explain who we are. There will be plenty of time for plot details to be leaked online, for trailers that show too much to be attached to every movie for the next year and for all sorts of speculation in between. And apparently, although it appeared that Bale would be to Nolan what Robert De Niro was to Martin Scorsese, it appears that Michael Caine is actually Nolan's muse, as he returns for his fourth Christopher Nolan movie in a row. And along for the ride? Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, and Sniper himself, The Substitute for no man, straight out of the Major League and ready to join this rag tag Platoon of thespians, Tom Berenger. So for now, watch the enigmatic and strange teaser trailer that tells you absolutely nothing and enjoy the fact that this is a mystery so far.
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