But its technical limitations, combined with Nolan’s own inexperience, make it one of his weaker works.
Nolan’s ultra-low-budget 1998 directorial debut was cobbled together while he was working full-time, using available light and cheap film stock. It does feel very much like a student effort: ambitious, awkward, bursting with ideas but often downright amateurish. Still, you can see the talent, and there are lots of fascinating elements here that would reemerge later: a nonlinear narrative, manipulative characters, a twist ending, the human psyche represented in material form. And the irony at the movie’s center — about a man who robs people to make them better appreciate their lives — is pure Nolan. (Also, the lead thief’s name is Cobb, the same as the head thief in Inception). Anybody interested in the director’s films should check this one out. But its technical limitations, combined with Nolan’s own inexperience, make it one of his weaker works.