Well folks, with the release of Dunkirk coming out very soon I thought now would be the perfect time to revisit the films by Christopher Nolan and do another ranked list like I did with M. Night Shyamalan's filmography back in January. What's funny is that the one's ranked lower aren't necessarily bad, but just that others ahead are just slightly better than the others. Like the ones ranked lowest I still think are really good! In my own personal rank please enjoy my own personal thoughts about every feature film directed by one of my all time favorite directors Mr. Christopher Nolan.
9. FOLLOWING (1998)
The directorial feature debut for Mr. Nolan I found to be quite ambitious working off of such a shoe string budget. The end result was an incredibly compelling crime thriller. Even though very low budget the quality of the film in terms of its filmmaking was rather impressive with its effective thriller based intensity found in the fast paced editing like other Nolan films. The cinematography and lighting complimented the rawness in the film's tone, which definitely made the experience feel more real. Yet the biggest strength with this movie is how compelling it was in its story and like Memento it was a very unconventional neo-noir and a nonlinear structure that left things hanging early on, but then other scenes would come in to explain what exactly happened.
My only issues are that compared to Nolan's other films I didn't find this be as emotionally compelling in its execution and the characters utilized, although I liked them, weren't incredibly thought provoking. There are definitely hints in Bill's character of Leonard's from Memento, but as opposed to Memento they didn't flesh out Bill as much and they probably could've. However, this was merely a great low budget crime film that didn't break new ground, but didn't need to at the same time. This film had a gripping and intense plot with quality raw filmmaking that made the experience grounded and not your typical thriller film. Following is very underrated thriller cinema from Mr. Nolan.
8. INTERSTELLAR (2014)
Boy do I remember hyping up this film back in 2014 and also when it came out that, the response was a little all over the place. Not really divisive because it wasn't so black and white because I remember reviewers saying things like it was really good, it was okay, or it just wasn't that great. Admittedly, I saw this film at the wrong time opening weekend at the first morning screening and was a little tired when I saw it, so even though maybe every idea didn't sync in I said I loved it anyway. Having seen the movie three times now I came to the conclusion that I do really like this film, but agree that in some aspects that it could've been better. Despite what you may think you can't deny that the visual effects and production design of this movie are mesmerizing. When I rewatched it, it still felt like I was seeing all this insane imagery for the first time and that was one of the aspects that stuck out in my first tired viewing. I can't say I was bored watching this movie just because of the nice crisp visual appeal and the fact that it was also shot on film like Nolan's other projects and that, of course, was beautifully authentic.
The performances I'd say were all pretty flawless and one of the reasons why I'd definitely revisit this film was just for how layered the story was. People tend to say there issues was the narrative itself, the story, but I actually found myself quite interested in the story and that there was great originality involved. I really liked where the story went in all three acts of the film. My issues with Interstellar oddly enough was in its direction and writing because even though I felt the story was there, how it was told I felt could've been better. Similar to what I said about Following, I just didn't get that emotional pull and felt I was just being told a story. It gets very exposition-y and the characterizations were kind of mediocre as well.
They weren't necessarily bad characters, but they weren't as memorable and interesting like the characters in Inception. I could identify every character in that film, but in this movie all I got out of them was that they were there to tell us what's happening. There were interesting tidbits about Matthew McConaughey's character Cooper and Anne Hathaway's character Brand, but a character introduced later on, who I won't spoil, was more layered than any of the main characters combined. That's a little disappointing. Also, the third act, I thought had brilliance from a story perspective, but I feel the way it was tying things together in the way it was written made it seem like the audience was stupid. I think Nolan could've taken advantage of challenging the audience by showing rather than telling, but all and all Interstellar was a solid experience with stupendous visuals and a pretty thought-provoking and layered story that could've been told better in its direction with better characterizations.
7. INSOMNIA (2002)
Many claim this to be Nolan's weakest of his filmography, though I may agree it's not as ambitious as other projects he developed in his later career, this is still one of the best thrillers I've ever seen. It's probably easy to compare it to his other films, but if you view this film just as its own standalone story and at a time before The Dark Knight or Inception, you'll be quite impressed to see how his vision plays out. Of course, this wasn't an original piece by Nolan considering it was a remake of a Norweigen film released in 1997 starring Stellan Skarsgård in the lead role, but given I haven't seen the original it still looks as though this story translates well to American cinema through such an outstanding vision by Nolan.
With an amazing lead in Al Pacino as Detective Dormer you truly understood the psychological warfare and guilt within himself and between Walter, played brilliantly by the late Robin Williams. I'm a big fan of psychological thrillers and what Insomnia had to offer was up to par with some of the best films in this genre. It was an amazing police procedural that could make me feel the inner conflict of Pacino's Dormer as well as the disturbing criminal nature of Williams's Walter. I was deeply soaked into the story and with Nolan's vision the intense presentation fit the tone remarkably well. I cannot wait to check this one out again and again!
So that's Part 1 of 3 of my Christopher Nolan Ranked editorial, so do check back tomorrow for Part 2 of this list. For more updates follow me in the social media links below:
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Thank you for taking the time to read this editorial and as always see some movies.
Take care. :-)
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