We are curious about other people's life - which is why we watch the news, why we watch people on the streets. Let's face it, we are never satisfied. We are insatiable. The stories we tell to each other in books and films are distillations of real-life - we are trying to make sense of the chaos of our lives. By putting the lives of other people (even imaginary ones) into order, we feel safer. Following is the story of one man's quest to make sense out of the chaotic events he finds himself part of.
'Bill' - we never really find out what his real name is - says that he is a writer and that, to get a better idea about people and their backgrounds, one day he decided to follow people. He gives himself certain rules - never the same person twice, never follow them for more than one journey - but it's not long before he is breaking his own rules. Bill continuously follows a sharply dressed man carrying a bag. At a coffee bar, the sharply dressed man confronts Bill, and asks why he is following him. From the beginning it is apparent that the sharply dressed man, Cobb, has a sharpened mind as well - he asks deeply probing questions of Bill. Cobb reveals that he is a thief, and invites Bill to join him on a job.
Breaking into an apartment, Cobb shows Bill how to analyse the people who live there. Although Bill is a voyeur he does not do anything beyond the act of looking. Cobb looks and then uses the information to his advantage. He lives in deserted buildings, or the homes of people who are away on long holidays. He eats in the best places and knows how to use and manipulate people. We soon come to realise that our narrator, our 'hero' is in fact quite stupid, and that it is Cobb who is the interesting, enigmatic character.
Christopher Nolan - writer, director and cinematographer - presents his story in crisp black and white images which, although modern day, somehow evoke the London underworld of the late 60s and early 70s. Lucy Russell as the girl Bill lusts after, is dressed and coiffured in the style of a 40s femme fatale. The violence is short, hard, repulsive.
The narrative is framed as a story Bill tells to another man. Memories are not sequential so, as Bill explains, we jump back and forth to images from different parts of the story. This fractured narrative creates intrigue and tension - we want to know what happened next, but also we don't want to know because we know bad things are going to happen.
Following is a superior modern film noir - a neo-noir if you like - which is always engaging, keeping you guessing, right up until the bitter and twisted end. Anybody who enjoyed Nolan's subsequent film Memento, will certainly love Following.
Reviewed by Paul Duncan
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