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In
Christopher Nolan's "Following" the lead character is
a writer who seeks out character studies (and stifles boredom) by
picking a random stranger and following him or her, filling in details
about their lives from his observations. It's an interesting premise
that isn't really followed through, leading instead into a rather
dull conspiracy and twisty plot.
It
feels very much like a first film, with probably not the best casting
choices and what seems like too much cleverness packed into what
could have been a simple, Hitchcockian thriller. After a first third
of the film that should tweak your interest as you fall into the
character's pasttime of following people, it then explores another
character's pasttime of breaking into stranger's houses. Still later,
a romantic intrigue involving a gangster's former girlfriend is
introduced. Although, by the end, all three parts are tied up in
a twisty ending, it doesn't seem a whole, rather three somewhat
interesting ideas put into one film.
Re-released on DVD
after the success of "Memento", "Following"
also plays with time, offering up future scenes, secret conversations,
confessions a la "The Usual Suspects", all to be wrapped
up by what is supposed to be a surprise. Unlike "Memento",
the time distortion isn't as integral to the film and really does
not add much to the mystery. The film could have been a standard
linear narrative.
While not confusing,
the glimpses into the future are just confirmations of a plot that
is telegraphed by the characters themselves. We know that the writer
protagonist will eventually be a patsy. We know from film noir that
the femme fatale he meets is worth only trouble. And his partner
in crime is a bastard and so we expect trouble from him.
It doesn't help that
the dialogue is updated noirish banter that seems out of
place in the modern setting. Granted, no one talks like characters
in a Mamet movie or play, either, but Mamet has the benefit of long
foundation of his own works.
On DVD.
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