There are plenty of precursors to his later work: Alex Haw, as Cobb, feels and looks like a predecessor of Robert Patinson’s Neil in Tenet, and the name ‘Cobb’, of course, would recur in Inception.
A slim 70-minutes, shot in grainy black-and-white in natural light, Following is a stripped back, deliberately lo-fi debut feature. An out-of-work writer gets more than he bargained for when he follows a stranger and discovers the man is a philosopher thief, who draws him into a series of minor robberties and major conspiracies involving a fabulously Old Hollywood femme fatale known only as ‘The Blonde’. It’s a clever noir, but most notable for showing Nolan’s style taking shape. There are plenty of precursors to his later work: Alex Haw, as Cobb, feels and looks like a predecessor of Robert Patinson’s Neil in Tenet, and the name ‘Cobb’, of course, would recur in Inception. Even at this early stage in his career, Nolan hops around through his narrative, layering four time periods together to keep you guessing. Things would get a lot more polished from here.