Cover Christopher Nolan photographed with his Academy Awards at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony (Photo: Getty Image)
Christopher Nolan photographed with his Academy Awards at the 96th Academy Awards ceremony (Photo: Getty Image)
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Happy birthday, Christopher Nolan! Tatler pays tribute to the cinematic maestro by revisiting his commercial successes such as ‘Inception’ as well as lesser-known gems such as ‘Following’
Christopher Nolan turns 54 today. For three decades, the British American filmmaker has been redefining 21st-century filmmaking with his mind-blowing visuals and experimental storytelling methods.
Not only has he rewritten narrative conventions—as can be seen in the distorted storytelling in his early work Memento (2000) and interwoven narratives in Interstellar (2014)—he has also created some of the most powerful cinematic experiences with mind-bending visuals; think the surrealistic dreamscapes of Inception (2010) or the recreation of an atomic bomb scene in biographical courtroom drama Oppenheimer (2023)
That’s not all. When he took on a series of three Batman movies from 2005 to 2012, The Dark Knight Trilogy, he also revolutionised the superhero canon by exposing the hero’s human weakness and questionable sense of justice.
Tatler celebrates the genius of Nolan by revisiting seven of his films. And by the way, Broadway Cinema is screening The Prestige (2006) and Interstellar (2014) in August and September if you’d like to experience them on the big screen once more.
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1. ‘Following’ (1998)
Nolan, whilst an English literature major at university, made several short films before his feature film debut in 1998. One such short film is Following, an independent neo-noir crime thriller about a writer in London, who stalks people to look for inspiration for his work, gets himself involved in a crime and is framed by whom he follows and imitates. Despite the production’s low budget—as the budding director was paying from his own pocket—the story didn’t fail to deliver its ingenuity: the lack of professional lighting works well with the grittiness and mystery of the underworld. The plot twists also demonstrate his early potential for heart-wrenching surprises and sharp wit which become more prominent in his later works.
2. ‘Memento’ (2000)
One of Nolan’s earlier works that establishes his name as an innovative storyteller is his 2000 neo-noir psychological thriller Memento. It portrays how insurance investigator Leonard Shelby, who suffers from memory loss, traces the murderer of his wife, which is the last thing he vividly remembers. His brother Jonathan Nolan first pitched the story to him in 1996, when Nolan adapted it into a movie, he abandoned the conventions of normal chronology such that the events are all mixed up. This parallels with the protagonist’s distorted memories and hauntingly questions the audience’s own reliance on their own perception as the basis of reality.
3. ‘Inception’ (2010)
A mind-bending psychological thriller that unravels itself through layers upon layers of dreamscapes, we follow Dom Cobb played by Leonardo DiCaprio, a skilled burglar who steals secrets for his clients from deep within his targets’ subconscious during their dream state. In a last-ditch effort to plant an idea in someone’s subconscious to redeem his past, Cobb finds himself at the edge of reality and fantasy, which leads him to second-guess everything he knows about himself.
Fourteen years after its initial release, Inception remains Nolan’s landmark cinematic feat, as evident in the way scenes like the zero-gravity fight sequence, the visually bent and crumpled cityscapes of Paris and the ambiguous ending of a spinning totem continue to be discussed and referenced in popular culture. The complexity and ambitious vision in Inception solidify Nolan’s reputation as a masterful storyteller and filmmaker.
4. ‘The Dark Knight’ (2008)
The Dark Knight is the second of Nolan’s Batman trilogy and is most remembered for its character development that redefined the superhero genre when the wit and thorough understanding of human nature of the Joker (Heath Ledger) forces Batman (Christian Bale) to confront his own insecurities and the moral ambiguities of his vigilante justice.
Nolan’s unconventional vision of humanising the antagonist figure, paired with Ledger’s convincing and award-winning performance, contributed to the commercial success and critical acclaim of The Dark Knight.
5. ‘Interstellar’ (2014)
Visualising the black hole way before computer scientist Kat Bouman generated the world’s first image of the actual black hole in 2019, Nolan’s intergalactic sci-fi film—which stars Anne Hathaway, Matt Damon and a then-promising young actor Timothée Chalamet—sets out looking for the future of humanity on the cusp of an impending ecological catastrophe.
Coupled with Hans Zimmer’s unforgettable score and Hoyte van Hoytema's breathtaking visuals, Interstellar is another movie that comes with Nolan’s unconventional storytelling and genius design with the concept of time. Interstellar makes the audience sit through most of the movie before everything makes perfect sense—in a heart-wrenching, mind-blowing way. For instance, in one of the scenes, Nolan leaves the audience bawling their eyes out when McConaughey’s character Cooper, marooned in space, watches 23 years worth of video messages sent from his kids who turn the same age as Cooper when he leaves behind his family for the outer space.
The film culminates in a poignant exploration of love, sacrifice and the survival of the human species which has us pondering our mortal existence.
6. ‘Dunkirk’ (2017)
There has been many a great war film in the history of Hollywood, but Nolan’s unique take on the harrowing evacuation of soldiers stranded on the French beaches during World War II makes Dunkirk unforgettable. The narrative unfolds across three interlocking perspectives: land, sea and air, in a non-linear storytelling timeline. Dunkirk’s finest moments are when Nolan exercises his directorial instincts and craftsmanship to create and sustain tension through the three interwoven narratives.
Nolan worked with Hoyte van Hoytema on the crispy cinematography and Hans Zimmer on the ticking score, which left the audience with a haunting feeling of claustrophobia as if they were indeed drowning in the submarine. All these visual and audio effects in turn are his way of celebrating the resilience of the human spirit which shines on even in the darkest of times.
7. ‘Oppenheimer’ (2023)
Oppenheimer is part-biopic, part-legal drama that chronicles the life of J Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist remembered for developing the atomic bomb that ended World War II. Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J Sherwin, Nolan’s film presents the heart-wrenching kangaroo court Oppenheimer willingly puts himself through out of guilt for his invention of a deadly weapon capable of committing mass destruction set up by Lewis Strauss, the latter acting as the United States Secretary of Commerce who worked to undermine his efforts.
Cillian Murphy’s portrayal of the legendary scientist, who won Best Actor for this role at the Oscars this year, doubtless adds to the intensity and impact of Nolan’s vision, for which the movie would go on to win Best Picture as well.
