I’ll tell you what every good filmmaker wants… every good filmmaker wants two things.
Number one, they want to stay true to their creative DNA. To be able to make the kind of cinema they believe in. The kind, which when they look back upon arouses feelings of inspiration, pride, originality, art, challenge etc etc… And the other thing, arguably equally important if not more… is for that movie to set the cash counters ringing.
You would agree that while the former makes them want to keep doing what they’re doing… the latter needs to happen so they can keep doing it. You would also agree that Chris Nolan, with his 8 movies, has so far managed to get both things, every single time.
When someone achieves a consistency like that you want to know more. How is he able to do it? Is he truly gifted? Is it hard work? Is there a reproducible method? Are there some common traits… is there a pattern… a theme ?
These are just a few things that caught my attention…
Nolan makes mind bending movies. But calling his movies psychological thrillers is clearly injustice. He delves much deeper than the genre requires. In other words… in his movies, your mind is the scene of crime…. Addiction (Following), Memory (Memento), Sleep (Insomnia) and Dreams (Inception)…. My personal favorite is Memento. What a movie! I still can’t believe that it did not win the academy award for best screenplay that year. The black & white scenes playing forward alternates with story in color going backwards… fantastic!… I must have seen Memento more than ten times. And each time I have found or understood something I missed the previous time.
Another Nolan trait is a dead woman. She’s responsible for the hero’s situation and drives his actions. She’s a powerful memory but is missing from his present. In Following, Memento, Dark Knight and Inception… she dies.
I suspect Chris loves teasing his audience. After getting you emotionally involved in an intensely psychoactive situation, towards the end of the movie when you think you’ve understood the premise, he hints at another possibility. He points to a mind bending alternative. And then as you’re re-considering things, he ends the movie, leaves everything to your interpretation and goes home. For example, in Memento, is Leonard a victim or a serial killer? In Inception, does Cobb make it home in the end? You think you know the answer. Let me just tell you as a good friend, it’s the answer you’ve chosen for yourself.
After all this adulation… my predominant feeling for Christopher Nolan is that of genuine concern. The kind that comes with a strong protective instinct. Why? you ask…
Nolan is not the first. Hitchcock, DePalma, Lucas, Zemeckis and Spielberg… they’ve have all been worshiped. The audience held their breath and studios raised the bar for their next movie. And then, there’s one human mistake they all made. They took a leap of creative faith. Also known in the real world as their ‘megaflop movie’. After which everyone wrote them off and started looking for the new invincible kid in town.
It was not by any means the end of things for them. They kept going. It just meant less freedom and more ‘supervision’. Atleast for a while. For instance, in Nolan’s case it would mean that the studios ask him not to experiment too much and stick to whatever has worked till now… let’s say a variant of Inception. How about ‘Inception returns’? This would instantly kill the number one for him…. his creative DNA. And that in turn, automatically translate into not getting number two… a.k.a. moolah. Wouldn’t it be a terribly sad day when a filmmaker like Nolan doesn’t have either of the things a good filmmaker wants?
I guess this thought crossed my mind because his 9th movie is coming out next week. The Dark Knight Rises. Go watch it with an open heart and forgive him if he makes mistakes (Would you… if it turned out to be a romantic comedy?)
The Government of... movies 
