So much average

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Christopher Nolan's micro-budget feature debut is a taught noir thriller that wisely relies on an excellent screenplay rather than expensive spectacle and, as such, proves that you don't need a budget to tell a good story. 'Following (1998)' really is phenomenal considering the money, and schedule, it was made on. It is a suspenseful and engaging tale that shows all the signs of what a great director Nolan would go on to become. A fantastic debut and a better film than many a director's second, third even fifteenth outing. 7/10

It's weird watching this film after having seen all of Nolan's other films up to this point. I found myself thinking, "Man, he's done this subjective non-linear storytelling to fool the audience thing a lot now" and then realizing oh yeah this was the first. He gets much better at it, suffice to say. There isn't much else to this film besides its slight of hand, and it kinda drops some of the throughlines pretty fast (so much for the eponymous title after about 15 minutes). But as a thesis about what Nolan would become, it's interesting enough.

With the unparalleled filmmaking that the Nolan's have shown us so far this century, I was quite eager to go back and watch this, their first film. This is something that every aspiring filmmaker, particularly writers, should see. A budget that could have been funded by a few years worth of saved tips produced an engaging and interesting 70 minute film that surpasses the quality of some films with budgets exponentially bigger than its own. We have three actors that nobody has ever heard of, a shaky camera, and no marketing whatsoever, but the idea and the quality of work put into the film turn out a great product. Certainly it could have done with some better technical execution, but the story is there and 10 years later, the Nolan's are producing some of the biggest and best movies of all time.It's a very interesting narrative. You can tell pretty quickly that it bounces around, but it's not too hard to follow. I didn't get everything down, and don't remember exactly how the story all works, but most of it made sense at end. The black and white was definitely the right choice. It gave it a slightly dull atmosphere as grayscale tends to, but this was a small price to pay for the serious and gritty feel that came with it. Although color would have been nicer to look at, it would have thrown off the mood. The same goes for the strident music score. It sounds kind of ugly, but it's spot on for the mood. We get some pretty good acting as well. The Blonde gets easily the worst performance, but it's better than some of what we get from Hollywood actresses. Cobb and Bill's actors are both great. Alex Haw in particular is very natural as Cobb. The performances aren't outstanding, but they are impressive.Bill makes for a decent protagonist. We can see that he's smart, but Cobb is much smarter. What's more, Cobb is confident and doesn't have any hesitation, which gives him a distinct edge over Bill, whose intelligence is more of a strong curiosity. This curiosity is what drives the story and eventually leads to Bill's disaster. Once he realizes that the entire situation is much bigger than he understands, he panics. It's actually rather sad how helpless he is. It's kind of fun to think about whether the Cobb here is the same Cobb played by DiCaprio in Inception, but if they are then there must have been a lot that went on to change him from mean-spirited crimes to constructive ones in the twelve year hiatus.I think this is still on Netflix, so watch it now while you can. If not, it's free to watch on YouTube. If you like thrillers, particularly interesting ones, it should satisfy, though it's no Silence of the Lambs. It's a movie that's good to watch alone in one night. It's quite short, but feels longer than it is. You might get bored at times, but I would encourage you to watch the whole thing. Overall Rating: 8.4/10.

The first indication of Christopher Nolan's genius for filmmaking.An unemployed young man has a strange pastime - following people. Nothing illegal or voyeuristic though. Then one day the person he is following, Cobb, catches him and confronts him. Cobb then introduces him to his strange hobby - burglary...Incredibly original, clever and intriguing. Starts fairly innocently enough but the tension ramps up the further you go. Great twists towards the end.Writer-director Christopher Nolan, directing his first feature film, shows an amazing confidence in his screenplay and direction, despite the limited resources at his disposal (apparently the film cost only $6,000 to make). Great use of back-and-forth time jumps, so that you get leaked the backstory, rather than spoon-fed it. He would take the time-jump technique to the extreme in his next movie (see later).The low budget does show up in the production values, but this doesn't hurt the movie much.Performances are mostly okay. I found Alex Haw a bit stiff as Cobb but the others are fine. While Nolan's debut film was intelligent and original, his next movie was even better. It was mind-blowingly brilliant - original beyond comparison with scenes in reverse order. That movie would be Nolan's finest and one of the greatest movies of all time (#2 on my all-time list) - Memento.