Folliwng

Review:  Before Christopher Nolan was Christopher Nolan, he made "Following."  A decidedly unique and original film made before Nolan had reached the acumen to do whatever he wants. 

Every day we pass hundreds of people on our way to living our lives.  Where is everyone going?  What is everyone doing?  At some point somebody catches your eye.  Maybe they're carrying a strange looking package or perhaps they have on an odd outfit, but there is something about them that catches your eye and makes you more curious about them than the others in the crowd.  What if you followed them (without them knowing) to see the answer to your question?  That is the premise of this movie.

A very fascinating premise it is.  Curiosity is one of the most powerful emotions we have and in many cases has been the start of something great?  What's across that ocean?  What's over that hill?  It's that drive that has made great things happen throughout history.  However, even though good things can result there are many things in this world you don't want to know.  Perhaps if you followed this person that caught your eye you would satisfy your curiosity but do you end up with something you really want to know?  Does your curiosity bring you to a point of no return to which you wish you never would have given that person more than a second glance?  That is where this movie takes us, to the eventual satisfaction of that curiosity. 

In true Nolan fashion we reach this conclusion not in a linear fashion that we are accustomed to, but through bits and pieces that happen at different times of the storyline, all while cutting between scenes of the main character talking about what happens in a linear fashion.  It is the same style of Memento but instead of going from end to beginning, he jumps around from different points in the story until they converge.  The only problem is that is where the movie can get somewhat confusing.  Perhaps it is because I am slightly unfamiliar with the actor but he changes his appearance halfway through the linear story arc, and for a while you are not sure it is the same person when you see scenes jumping from before the change to after the change.  Even bigger than that, the story can be hard to follow at times for this reason and for the simple fact that it gets confusing jumping around like that.  However, everything is saved by the ending which does a good job of tying it all together.  What the audience realizes is that the story wasn't really told out of order, but the main character is explaining the end result and all the details through all the events that brought on those details.

A very smart, very well done movie that I enjoyed and is worth your time but will demand your full and undivided attention.