Christopher Nolan Tribute (Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Modern Master Award, 2011)

Reviewed By Ulrika Bjorck at Santa Barbara International Film Festival 2011.

One of the highlights of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was without a doubt the Christopher Nolan Tribute. He was rewarded for his work over the years with the Modern Master Award. And actually no one deserves it more than he does. I felt so lucky that I had the chance to be present at the tribute at the Arlington Theatre, Sunday the 30^th of January.

The whole thing started with a presentation of the 7 films he has been directing and writing so far, we got to see a montage of film clips of them. And after that Mr. Nolan was called up on stage, by the moderator Pete Hammond.

Nolan’s first film that was published was following, in 1998. And this was naturally the first film Pete Hammond and Christopher Nolan were talking about. I haven’t seen it myself but it seems to be a good film, though I think it differs a lot from his other movies, that all are the typical outstanding work of Christopher Nolan.

The evening continued with clips from the rest of his films and then Q&A’s about them all. Because Nolan has got this far and become this big after only 7 films they were able to thoroughly talk about every film, the making of them and how he came up with ideas for them.

After Following from 1998, came Memento in 2000, a film I was really impressed with at the time I saw it, unknowing that Christopher Nolan was the director of it. He wrote the story together with his brother who actually was the one who came up with the idea.

His next big movie hit was Insomnia that came out in 2002. I haven’t seen it myself, but as they talked about it and showed the clip from it I felt like it is a definitely a “must-see” film, that I will go out and rent as soon as I have time for it.

In 2005 Nolan made one of his best movies so far, Batman Begins. The filming, story, special effects and acting in it is absolutely flawless. And I have to say the same about The Dark Knight from 2008, where Heath Ledger is making his unforgettable role as The Joker.

In between these two batman films, in 2006 Nolan made The Prestige, also this one was written by both Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan.

And to tell you about his last masterpiece Inception from 2010 is just impossible. You have to see it to really understand, I can’t just in words describe it. I have to say that I’m pretty much speechless about it and I am just so incredible impressed with the performances from the actors and the outstanding script and idea. I realized after seeing it the first time that I had to see it again for the whole story to make sense. The same thing happened to me when I saw Memento the first time. But actually I guess that is kind of what makes Nolan’s movies so unique and amazing. He wants you to think. And that is just what he forces you to do as well.  I am very curious to see what more Nolan are going to bring to the big scene, I’m sure we won’t be disappointed though. He is still a young director, 40 years old, so he got a lot of time left to make an impression on people through his stories.

To wrap it up, Nolan IS the master of modern film, nothing more said.