What makes Christopher Johnathan
James Nolan- director, writer, and producer- so special? Is it his thrilling,
thought-stimulating writing? Maybe it could be the producing and directing of
such masterful and downright incredible films? This may be my own opinion, but
the Internet Movie Database
has 6 of Nolan's films ranked in the top 250. The evidence is beginning to
stack up; Christopher Nolan makes some good movies. No, he makes great ones.
But what aspects make these so great?
One aspect Nolan's films is the
fact that they are very cerebral. Most plots are multi-layered, meaning more
than one at a time, the plot line is not chronological, and most of his movies
end without us really knowing what happened during the film. His movies make
the audience think, which means more can be gained from the film each time you
watch them. Pair this deep thinking with the action, shots he very specifically
uses, and audio to compliment visual aspects and you have got quite a film. The
most important filmmaking technique incorporated in his films is cross-cutting.
The changing of scenes very quickly builds much anticipation in the viewer.
In Inception and The
Prestige, Nolan shows his unorthodox plot line. The Prestige begins
with the end of the movie, and Inception also begins with a part of the
end of the movie. Both scenes seem to be irrelevant when you first begin to
watch, but as the movie progresses, the scene fits in perfectly and you then
experience an awesome Deja Vu moment.
If we take a deeper look at Inception,
we can see that there is much more to this movie
than meets the eye. We are not even sure what the movie is about. Leonardo
DiCaprio's character is supposed to be a dream thief, stealing ideas from
individual's subconscious. But how do we know for sure the movie is not just
one big dream? We never see the totem (tool for finding out if one is still
dreaming) come to rest or continue to spin. Christopher Nolan does this
purposely to invoke the mind of the viewers. To me, this aspect of filmmaking
makes the viewing very enjoyable.
The viewing of these films may be
enjoyable to me, but some people do not feel the same. Graeme McMillan of Time
wrote a very convincing
article about the pros and cons of Christopher Nolan. After reading, I can
tell where the author is coming from. A viewer must take up a good portion of
the day to watch one of Nolan's movies. But, I believe that is just part of the
Christopher Nolan experience.
The way Nolan makes films has
captivated many. Adam McKay, director of Anchorman, said, "The Dark Knight is the best superhero movie ever made. I've seen
others that try to get all real, and they strip away the fun and the mythology.
And then I've seen movies that go too far towards the cartoon aspect. But
Nolan, with mathematical precision, blended the two. The way he shoots is such a
throwback, and yet so modern. He's using old-fashioned techniques with modern
ideas. Amazing." In reference to the batman
movies, they truly are the best superhero movies. Nolan simply adds the
cerebral aspect to movies that involve beating the pulp out of another man.
Miraculously, this comes out to be excellent.
Fans and critics alike compliment Nolan on the
batman movies, but what does he say about them? After sifting through
interviews, I cannot truly find one that shows his talents as a filmmaker. I
then looked a little deeper, and found this compilation.
Either being humble or just
secretive, Nolan never seems to give away any of his secrets to his success.
After seeing this video, you can almost delve into the mind of Christopher
Nolan, and what he envisions as film excellence.
With Nolan's viewpoints on his
films being so hard to find, we can now turn to what he says through his
characters. In all of his movies, the characters seem to make the movie. The
action and the cerebral aspects of his films do add an important dimension, but
the characters really make it pop. Working with mostly the same cast in all of
his films, Nolan can develop roles and be confident that his actors will fill
them with no problem. In my opinion, the most notable characters in his films
would be: The Joker, Bane, and Dom Cobb. In their respective films, the
characters add a new twist to the movie. The Joker is an unstoppable force of chaos;
Bane is a physical, malevolent character who adds a threat to batman; and Dom
Cobb, who's relatively unknown past factors in frequently to the plot of Inception,
adding something entirely new for the audience to think about. The movie
posters following show the importance of each character to the plot of the
films.
I believe his
characters truly do speak what is on Nolan's mind. Not so much the chaos
aspect, but how much he delves into each of his films, creating a deeper
meaning. For example, in The Dark Knight, The Joker says, "Madness
is a lot like gravity; all you need is a little push." To me, this shows
how an action movie, like Batman, can be turned into much more than fighting
scenes. This is a credit to Nolan's film making skills- an action film combined
with a slant on society as a whole, saying chaos does live within every day life.
Inception's
plot is all about dreams and ideas, just for entertainment right? Not exactly.
It is hard to pinpoint the exact reasoning behind the film, but the plot
definitely plays to one of our most vulnerable areas: sleep. One effect of
seeing this film is wondering: could this happen to me? Nolan is playing to the
audience's senses, and doing a pretty good job. Quotes by characters such as
Dom Cobb saying: "What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria? A virus?
An intestinal worm? An idea." Really gets the viewer thinking about what
they are watching. I know for myself, Inception was about the first
movie that blew my mind right after I watched it for the first time.
In
a nutshell, Christopher Nolan appeals to audiences. His perfectly executed
action scenes, his cerebral aspect to each film, and his incredible story lines
and characters make for simply amazing movies. His films seem to go the extra
mile, and add more to a movie than what audiences are expecting. Nolan’s films are definitely much more than I ever
expected, especially with a superhero movie. I can honestly say I will go see
the new superman movie, just because Christopher Nolan is the director. So, what
sets Nolan apart from others? Other directors want to be like him. His approach
to filmmaking is so different than the normal. Adding twists and turns at any
point (especially the endings), making the audience think about what they are
watching, appealing to the senses of viewers, creating characters and stories
that will be topics of discussion for many years after the movie debuts, and,
of course, throwing in some action scenes that blow you away. Christopher Nolan
truly sets the bar, in my opinion, for movie making.
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