Following
Movie, 1998, The '90s, Set in A writer who shadows strangers
Following is #1 of 13 in release order and #1 of 13 in chronological order in the Christopher Nolan.
The story
Bill, an idle, unemployed aspiring writer, walks the crowded streets of London following randomly chosen strangers, a seemingly innocent entertainment that becomes dangerous when he crosses paths with a mysterious character.
Following recap
Following (1998) tracks a jobless young London writer who shadows strangers for ideas until one of them, a burglar named Cobb, notices and recruits him. Christopher Nolan wrote, shot and edited the black-and-white feature on weekends over a year, using 16 mm stock and friends' flats. Jeremy Theobald plays the Young Man, who calls himself Bill, and Alex Haw plays Cobb, a thief who cares less about the loot than about rifling through people's lives to shake them up. Bill starts breaking in alone, cuts his hair, wears a suit like Cobb's and takes up with the Blonde (Lucy Russell), whose flat they burgled. She says her gangster ex, the Bald Guy, is blackmailing her with photos, so Bill cracks the Bald Guy's safe and clubs a guard with a hammer. The story is cut into three shuffled timelines that slowly line up. Following is Nolan's first feature and comes before Memento.
Following ending explained
Following ends with Bill framed for murder. The Blonde admits she and Cobb groomed him to copy Cobb's methods, supposedly so a body Cobb stumbled on would look like the work of another burglar. Bill heads to the police to confess. Cobb then reveals to the Blonde that he works for the Bald Guy, whom she has been blackmailing, and kills her with Bill's hammer. The police find Bill's fingerprints all over the scene, and Cobb disappears into the crowd. Nolan later reused the name Cobb for Leonardo DiCaprio's thief in Inception.
Post-credits scenes
No. Following has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Following
Following is streaming on Philo, Kanopy, and Sundance Now in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.4/10, Rotten Tomatoes 87%
Where it fits
Cast
- Jeremy Theobald as The Young Man
- Alex Haw as Cobb
- Lucy Russell as The Blonde
- John Nolan as The Policeman
- Dick Bradsell as The Bald Guy
- Gillian El-Kadi as Home Owner
- Jennifer Angel as Waitress
- Nicolas Carlotti as Barman
- Darren Ormandy as Accountant
- Guy Greenway as Heavy #1
- Tassos Stevens as Heavy #2
- Tristan Martin as Man at Bar
Directed by Christopher Nolan.