The main character of Following (simply credited as The Young Man) sees stalking random individuals as somewhat of a character study. Initially, he doesn’t do it for sexual ambitions or personal gain. He just wants to know what makes these people tick. You see, he is an unemployed man with aspirations of one day becoming a writer. Who are they? Where are they going? Why are they going there? What kind of person is this? These questions, and perhaps many others, are lingering throughout his socially awkward mind.

One day, one of his subjects, a well-dressed man carrying a briefcase, confronts him in a coffee shop.  As it turns out, his name is Cobb and he’s burglar. He’s also one of the few characters in the film with a credited name. Cobb takes our protagonist to an apartment, where they go through a couple’s things, drink their wine, and place a pair of women’s underwear to suggest permiscuity. “You take it away… to show them what they had,” Cobb suggests.

The young man takes this advice and starts pursuing a blonde woman at a bar, who, as we discover, was a victim of their thievery. He appears to not only be attracted to her physically and emotionally, but curious about what it is like to be robbed. As it turns out, this is the least of his worries. You see, as the non-linear story unfolds, we learn that not all is at is seems to be. Don’t worry! I won’t spoil the twists and turns for those who’ve yet to see director Christopher Nolan’s first feature film. That would be improper, even for a 12 year old film.

Filmed in black & white with natural lighting, the film has a gritty, but classic feel to it. The shadows are dark, often overwhelming, and might go hand to hand with some of the subject matters and themes, unintentionally insinuating that the character is trapped from the very beginning. The almost subtle, but indirect approach to the timeline shows the protagonist at three points in a short, but integral period of his life. You have the beginning, the middle, and the end result all happening at once. Nolan obviously went on to use variations of the non-linear approach in Memento, The Prestige, and in its most simplistic form, the first act of Batman Begins.

Nolan obviously did what he could with a miniscule budget and limited free time on weekends, but you could easily say Following is the best it could ever be. Even though the two should go hand to hand, story content always should take precedence over the technical aspect.

Watching Following is sort of like spectating a chess match between Nolan and his audience. While watching films like this, we are often trying to get one step ahead of the storyteller. Nolan, on the other hand, is attempting to come out two steps ahead. Following doesn’t have the frantic twists and turns as The Dark Knight, but it remains a well-crafted, independent character study.

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