Following

"Following" (Christopher Nolan, 1999) Short film by Christopher Nolan combining film noir, Hitchcock and kitchen-sink drama. The nameless "hero" is a bored writer who, to exact some control in his life, picks a person at random and follows them home-just to see where they go. Then, one day, he picks a guy--Cobb--who confronts him, challenges him, and brings him along to show him the ropes of his chosen profession--breaking and entering. Soon, he is joining him in his robberies, and then things get a little...complicated. Shot in black-and-white, with an eye towards grit, then chopped up out of time-line to achieve the maximum end-punch, "Following" is a topsy-turvy, nervey little film that for all of its nothing budget creates maximum effect. The acting is okay, too. But it set up Nolan as an efficient film-maker who wasn't afraid to think out of the box. His next film, Memento, would take him further into that experimentation to far greater effect.