Following

This is cult classic now,the plot is amazing.

Following was a nicely paced, sparse movie. There weren't any superfluous scenes. It told an engaging story with a minimum of fuss. I enjoyed it. If you want to watch a good film-noirish type movie you can't go wrong with this one. Well worth the time.

I saw this movie after I saw Memento. I was very impressed with Memento so when I saw this at the local video store, I decided to check it out. I was equally impressed with this little film. I like black and white films so that was bonus, especially for a noir film. I thought the acting was very good by actors I have never noticed in other films. It is short and makes you think, which you can't state about many films. I loved to guess where a film is going and 90% of the time I know the general outline of the film and where it is going in the first 10 minutes. Nolan's films are never that easy to decipher at first glance. I won't spoil the film other than to state the protagonist of the film is not talking to his shrink after he has taken his stalking too far at the beginning of the film as I originally surmised. This movie is basically a rough draft for some of the ideas and themes Nolan would later explore and exploit in Memento. It works on its own and if Nolan had never done anything afterwards would still be a major talent.

It's utterly irrelevant to me whether this movie had a budget of 6 thousand, 6 million, or 600 million dollars. I only care about the end-result, what I get on the screen. "Following", despite its ultra-short length of 70 minutes, required me to watch it in 3 sittings (sleepings) - that's how dull it was in parts. Not badly made, but after the interesting first several minutes, the movie goes nowhere i.e. it turns into a mere run-of-the-mill noir drama. Who cares if it's written and presented in broken form? I've seen so many films done that way, it doesn't get me excited anymore at all. It's still just another double-cross crime film, the kind of cliché crap one could have expected from a Huston/Bogart team-up. Yawn. I had expected something more unique to develop out of the initial premise of the central character following people. I wouldn't have even viewed this film had I known its plot was so standard. The twists and the story are not only not interesting, but quite far-fetched. The woman's character isn't properly fleshed out. "Memento" was considerably better. This was just a solid little early effort, nothing more. No need to get ecstatic, people...