Following

Excellent. Nolan works skillfully with storytelling, he knows when to tell and when not to tell, if you know what I mean. The whole time you’re following him, breathing down his neck, but he knows full well that you’re there and so he changes direction to confuse you and then disappears all of a sudden, only to reappear behind you and push you under a train. And the only thing that crosses your mind as you fall under the wheels of the express is... surprise. (05/14/2010)

I didn't like Memento with its non-linear progression and I didn't like Following either. The motive is interesting, the film is fast-paced and the story is attractive, but this skipping of times and scenes that don't make sense at first just doesn't work for me, and neither do the black and white visuals. Anyway, Christopher Nolan’s debut is very progressive and timeless. (08/06/2023)

If there's one thing Christopher Nolan really knows how to do, it's to grab attention with a uniquely constructed story, which is exactly the case with his wondrous Following. Nothing expensive, nothing overly ambitious, and certainly nothing bursting with ideas, but you can get a lot out of even a little, and you can get even more out of it with your own skill and care. Of course, in terms of overall quality, this is only a minor creative warm-up for the far richer Memento, but Nolan proved himself in his debut to be such a skilled cinematographer, such a great screenwriter with a unique sense of timing, and, most importantly, such an excellent director that Following deserves no condemnation at all alongside all the Batmans and Inceptions. But you’ll have to see for yourselves. :-) 75% (07/29/2014)

At first, it appears like Nolan is going to explore the depths of the soul of one miserable voyeur. After a while, however, he deftly twists the plot into a dark thriller, where the viewer cannot be sure even of the focus of the characters, let alone the next few minutes. The artful editing (the story takes place over three time planes) and the director's work as a precise turner create a film for which I can’t help but nod my head in approval. The ending can also shake hands with Singer's The Usual Suspects, no question about it. (08/31/2008)

Christopher Nolan is a great director and I personally look forward to every film he comes up with. Yes, the Batman films are mainly responsible for that, but Memento already won me over. But in the case of Following, I was quite disappointed. Even though it's visually interesting, and even though it has good acting and a good script, it just didn't grab me. (11/27/2015)