Tribute to Christopher Nolan (SBIFF, 2011): USA

Reviewed by Katie Funk. Viewed at Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara.

In a tribute to Christopher Nolan we were taken on a journey through his films from its meager beginnings to its grand endings and new prospects into an even grander future. It was fascinating to learn how quickly his career took off after he came out with his first film The Following in 1998. A black and white film about a man who follows strangers in an attempt to have a better connection with those that once carried just a blank face in a large crowd. Nolan explained to us how he and a few of his colleagues who all worked weekdays from 9-5 filmed this movie on every Saturday for an entire year. He also exclaimed how this movie’s budget was a whopping 6,000 dollars! Somehow from this kind of beginning he moved onto his next film which was Memento, and became a smashing hit. He gave us a bit of feedback on the creation of Memento and how it all began with an idea that his brother came up with. He said to his brother “I am going to make that idea of yours into a movie, is that alright with you?” to which is brother of course replied “Yes!”

From there on the rest is history so to speak with Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, and next in line The Dark Knight Rises. Christopher Nolan has incredible talent seeing how he went from a 6,000 budget to a budget of 160 million for Inception! He is highly regarded by all those who work for him as a great director to work with. He gave us all a bit of feedback into his life as well and how he comes from an American/English background yet speaks with an English accent since he spent most of his time growing up in London. Whereas his brother speaks fully with an American accent. It was quite interesting to listen to him speak about himself and to watch small clips of his movies alongside with him. He obviously loves to work with Christian Bale as he has been cast in several of his movies. He talked of how the first time he met Christian he was interviewing him for the role of Batman but Christian was still emaciated and skinny from his previous performance in The Machinist. He couldn’t imagine at the time that this man would be able to fit Batman’s bulky stature in such a short time. Though sure enough Christian Bale has an uncanny ability to morph into the character that he needs to be and became a bulky and buff Batman in no time at all.

After seeing Christopher Nolan and a few of his clips I gained a much greater appreciation for him as a director and for how far along he has come in such a short time. It gave me a great perspective to how you can do anything that you put your mind to if you have enough drive and determination to see the project through to the end. I also would love to watch the rest of his films that I have not already seen now that the puzzle pieces have linked together the great mind that is behind all of these works of art.