THE ‘WHITE KNIGHT’ RISES

"I always find myself gravitating to the analogy of a maze. Think of film noir and if you picture the story as a maze, you don't want to be hanging above the maze watching the characters make the wrong choices because it's frustrating. You actually want to be in the maze with them, making the turns at their side, that keeps it more exciting...I quite like to be in that maze."

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

  

 This may be one of the boring topics I choose to write, but I insist on this topic because it was he who had influenced me and my thoughts (and even my life!) to a large extent. Elegant, innovative and deep thinking – that’s Chris Nolan for you. This article is about the chronological rise of the Nolan and his masterpieces. 

1.    FOLLOWING (1998):

It is the directional debut of Nolan which showed the world how powerful the ideas of this genius can be! It is also the most underrated work of Nolan so far. With a complete runtime in black and white and a budget of mere 6,000$ (which is almost 40,000 times less than the budget of The Dark Knight Rises), it still is one of the least expensive full length feature films in the history of cinema. The shooting techniques used by Nolan were a revolution back then! Nevertheless, it turned out to be a gem! Nolan never had to look back since then.

2.    MEMENTO (2000)

   Many people think that there’s very negligible amount of humour in Nolan’s works. But the fact is that humour is present underlying, all along the movie. Very sensible and realistic sense of humour makes Nolan a unique thinker. Here’s a small example of his mastermind moments, which made me cry and smile at the same time

  Natalie: What’s the last thing that you remember?
  Shelby: My wife….

  Natalie: That’s sweet.

  Shelby: ……dying.

   Memento is about the story of a short term memory loss patient, who seeks revenge for the rape and murder of his wife. It is considered to be one of the most ambiguous and unique narration in a movie, in the Hollywood history.

3.    BATMAN BEGINS (2005):

Already, there were eight to nine movies based on the theme of Batman and all were below average grossers! And this time, Nolan, whose previous movie (Insomnia) gained mixed reviews, took over the responsibility of rebooting one of the darkest superheroes ever. And this time, it turned out to be legendary. Superheroes knew only one thing prior to the release of this film, which was to knock out the villains and save the world. But Nolan’s Batman Begins was different. Not only different, it was special because it was about the journey into one’s own heart- overcoming fears and defining one self.

“Its not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you” is among one of the tens of inspirational/ philosophical dialogues from the movie.

4.    THE PRESTIGE (2006)

   What inspires me about Nolan is his way of approach, both in script selection and in the way of living. He is one such person who has confidence and courage blended in right proportions. Well, that’s the way to live the life. This time he sprnikled his magical quotes in different proportions all over the film. Right from the first dialogue “Now you’re looking for the secret. But you won’t find it because of course, you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to work it out. You want to be fooled”, the entire movie just lifts your spirit, giving goose bumps at times. Nolan once again chose a unique narration style which gave more strength to this wonderful piece of work (ART!).

5.    THE DARK KNIGHT (2008)

   One more feature of Nolan’s movies is that, if you watch the movie say four times, you feel like watching four different movies. That’s because you can never understand the entire concept in a single time, due to its depth- both in the dialogues and in the situations and not to forget the trademark narration style. As in the case of “The Dark Knight”, which has a million strings of concepts wounding up into a tight screenplay. The reception this movie has got, both among the audience and the critics, is huge! A sarcastic and witty dialogue for you:

                                                             

 Joker (to Rachel): A little fight in you, I like that!

 Batman: Then you are gonna love me. 

…and a philosophical “Nolanian” dialogue:

Harvey Dent: You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

6.     INCEPTION (2010)

    Coming to the Nolan’s and Hollywood’s one of the best works- “Inception”, the discussion on why this movie is so special can go on for pages straight! The speciality of this movie is that you already know most of the simple facts about dreams, but our genius Nolan had embroidered the facts onto a special cloth of ‘dream sharing’ with such a perfection that whole world appreciated it. The way he use the concept to make it a nail biting thriller was just outstanding. Multiple level dreaming and incepting one’s brain left the audience shocked. A simple and interesting dialogue for you:

“Dreams, they feel real while we’re in them, right? Its only after we wake up that we realize how things are actually strange. Let me ask you a question. You never remember the beginning of a dream, do you? You always end up right in the middle of what’s going on.”

7.    THE DARK KNIGHT RISES:

   Ending this legend's collage with the a legendary closure- “The Dark Knight Rises.” Giving an epic ending to the epic series is never easy. But then, it is Nolan! Not much action, not many batman tricks, but what it contains is the NOLANISM. With the screen presence of Batman in the movie summing up to less than 35 minutes, Nolan made it big! The way batman describes his destiny in the dialogue is outstanding:

Catwoman: You don't owe these people anymore! You've given them everything! 
Batman: Not everything. Not yet.

Simple yet, powerful!

As for me, Nolan is the white knight of all his movies- a guardian of the moral values and creativity. He is the hero who gave the superhero (Batman), a new definition. This white knight is rising at an astonishing rate and hope he gives us many more masterpieces!

Go, watch Nolan's next piece of brilliance, "Interstellar", which is going to hit the screens on 7th Nov, 2014. 

For my written version of "Following", CLICK HERE

For interesting facts about dreams and dream sharing, CLICK HERE

For interesting facts about inception and dream interpretations, CLICK HERE