Christopher Nolan: signature techniques of the cult director and in which films to look for them

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Christopher Nolan is rightfully considered one of the best directors of our time. The life hacker analyzes the master's favorite cinematic techniques and gives examples of films in which they are presented.

Starting with a completely original film "Pursuit", which he himself wrote, directed, filmed and even edited, Nolan gained popularity with every next project. After two low-budget, but very successful films "Remember" and "Insomnia", he moved on to large-scale blockbusters that finally conquered the whole world.

Nolan's films have a completely unique atmosphere and unique directorial style. Here are some of the hallmarks of his work.

Dramatic and unexpected plot twists

Few of Christopher Nolan's works can be called detectives. But in almost every picture there are events that turn the viewer's feelings literally upside down. Even in the seemingly simple superhero film The Dark Knight Rises, there are completely unexpected twists and turns, not to mention the completely confusing Remember.

In addition, each picture necessarily reveals the fate and the real drama of the character. In any, even the most fantastic plot, human relations are in the first place.

What to see

Prestige

• Drama, thriller.
• USA, UK, 2006.
• Duration: 130 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

The story of two illusionists, who were once partners, but then became ruthless competitors. In an effort to harm the opponent, each of them is ready not only to disrupt his performance, but also to endanger the lives of his loved ones.

The plot of "Prestige" consists mostly of flashbacks - the memories of the characters about the events of the past. The film, which begins as a drama about friendship and competition, takes on a mystical flavor at some point. In the finale, when, it would seem, the viewer was already given all the secrets, the story will show another illusion, which is almost impossible to predict.

Non-linear storytelling and working with color

Another Nolan favorite is the non-linearity of the narrative. Events do not take place one after another, as in most plots, but in parallel, in the opposite direction or in different time planes, that is, whatever you like, but not in order. He used this style of shooting even in his very first work "Pursuit" and later only developed and complicated it.

What to see

Remember

• Detective, thriller.
• USA, 2000.
• Duration: 113 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

The main character of the film (Guy Pearce) is looking for the man who raped and killed his wife. But his main problem is that after an injury he cannot remember events for more than a few minutes.

In other films, the director may use more complex structures. In "Remember" the plot runs in parallel in two directions: some events are shown exactly as they happen, while others develop from end to beginning, making the main mystery not the traditional "how it will end", but "how it all began."

Start

• Science fiction, detective, thriller.
• USA, UK, 2010.
• Duration: 148 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 8.

A fantastic film about a talented thief (Leonardo DiCaprio) who steals ideas from the subconscious while sleeping. But he has to commit his best crime on exactly the opposite principle - to implement an idea in a dream.

In "Inception," Nolan uses other techniques - picture within picture and time dilation. The main characters create multi-layered dreams, and in each next layer, time passes more slowly than in the previous one. During the time while the car falls off the bridge at the first level of sleep, significant events take place in the deeper ones. But events of all sleep layers are regularly shown in the frame, occurring simultaneously with different rates.

In both cases, Christopher Nolan separates the different stages, highlighting them with color, and this becomes another trademark of the director. In Remember, the forward chronology is shown in black and white, and the reverse in color. And in "Beginning", each level of sleep is made in its own color scheme: on the first everything is shown in cold blue colors, in the second - in yellow, and then everything is already covered with snow and mainly white is used. At the last stage, all these colors are mixed into a phantasmagoric scale of the deepest level of sleep called Limbus.

Attention to small details

Many of Nolan's films start out with detail, forcing the viewer to focus on the little things right away. In addition, in most plots, he introduces a fairly simple and even ordinary subject, which in the finale will become perhaps the most important object of the narrative. Like the spinning top in Inception, a photograph in Remember, or a clock in Interstellar.

What to see

Insomnia

• Thriller.
• USA, 2002.
• Duration: 118 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

Two police officers (Al Pacino and Martin Donovan) arrive in Alaska to investigate the murder of a young girl. Having arranged a trap for the criminal, one of them accidentally kills his partner. But was this incident really the case and why is the criminal himself so eager to talk to the detective?

In the episode with the examination of the body of the deceased girl, it is shown in close-up how her fingernails are cut off. Subsequently, fingers and nails are repeatedly shown in the same close-up, over and over again reminding the viewer of the first scene.

A modern take on superheroes

In 2005, Christopher Nolan "rebooted" the story of Batman, one of the most popular comic book heroes, and presented viewers with a completely new take on the character, which has not yet been on the big screens.

What to see

Batman Begins

• Neonuaric superhero action movie.
• USA, Japan, UK, 2005.
• Duration: 140 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

Young Bruce Wayne witnesses the murder of his parents. Years later, he decides to start personally fighting crime in his hometown, wearing a bat costume.

The Dark Knight

• Neonuaric superhero action thriller.
• USA, UK, 2008.
• Duration: 152 minutes.
• IMDb: 9, 0.

The Joker (Heath Ledger), a psychopath who instills fear not only on ordinary residents of the city, but even on hardened criminals, becomes Batman's new opponent. Batman will have to team up with Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) and Commissioner Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) to deal with the madman.

The Dark Knight Rises

• Neonuaric superhero action movie.
• USA, 2012.
• Duration: 163 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

In Gotham, a new, most dangerous criminal in history appears - Bane (Tom Hardy). He seizes power in the city, and even Batman himself cannot resist him.

Nolan's Batman is completely realistic. Although he lives in a fictional city, but now it does not in any way resemble the gothic-surreal Gotham from the Tim Burton films. All three films of Nolan are filmed in dark colors, Batman uses the maximum of modern technology, and his vehicles resemble more military equipment than funny cars from old comics and previous films.

It was Christopher Nolan who gave the audience a new and more lively look at comic films, as well as everyone's favorite image of the Joker performed by Heath Ledger.

Globality and scientific approach

In all of his films, Christophen Nolan is very attentive to the details and the veracity of what is happening. Therefore, even the most fantastic plots are worked out to the smallest detail and seem completely real. During filming, he consults with engineers, scientists, demolition experts and other specialists to work out a particular scene.

What to see

Interstellar

• Sci-fi drama.
• USA, UK, 2014.
• Duration: 169 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 6.

The earth is threatened with drought and extinction. A group of astronauts travel in a spaceship through a wormhole in space-time to distant worlds near the black hole to select a new planet for colonization.

In the film "Interstellar", against the background of the main action, the essence of many phenomena from astronomy and theoretical physics is explained in a rather simple language. We are told about the properties of a black hole, about what the event horizon is. And they even clearly show the tesseract - a four-dimensional cube. To get closer to the reality of the scenes with the astronauts in the preparation of the film, Nolan visited NASA and SpaceX. The picture was appreciated by many astrophysicists, not to mention ordinary spectators.

There are, of course, those who criticize some controversial issues, such as the proximity of Miller's planet to a black hole. Although this is what added to the plot of the beloved Nolanian nonlinearity (one hour on this planet is equal to seven years on Earth). But most of the scientific facts are presented quite accurately, because when creating the script, the authors consulted with the famous theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, one of the world's leading experts on general relativity.

Other signature traits

Dislike of visual effects

With the general dominance of visual effects in cinema, Christopher Nolan remains one of the adherents of the most realistic shooting. He is an ardent opponent of digital formats and shoots most of his work with film cameras.

Many scenes from his films, which, it would seem, are certainly made on a computer, are actually filmed live. In the early, low-budget films, it didn't really matter, but when Nolan got to the blockbuster level, his principles showed in all their glory. Like the heroes of Inception, the director himself, like an architect, creates reality, only not in dreams, but in the real world itself.

Most of the strange machines and other devices were built in full size. The famous Batpod, the motorcycle from The Dark Knight, was actually made for filming and actually rode. True, it was very difficult to drive it, only a professional stunt driver Jean-Pierre Goy coped with it.

Explosions on the street in the film "Inception" were also filmed live, and then only finalized with graphics. Moreover, the action takes place on the streets of real Paris, for this it was necessary to coordinate the shooting and blocking of streets with the authorities. Even the explosion of the hospital in "The Dark Knight" actually happened: for filming they took a building that was being prepared for demolition.

In Interstellar, the water scene was filmed in a real lake in Iceland, with only a giant wave added on the computer. And spaceships, which, of course, could not be built on a natural scale, were made in small copies.

In Inception, the earthquake and the flooding of the building were filmed in the pavilion, but still with a minimum of graphics. Moreover, it is important that in most of the scenes in the frame there are really actors, and not their stunt doubles. For the filming of the avalanche collapse, we went to the Canadian mountains and hired special demolitions. Even the scene where gravity starts to go crazy and the characters run along the walls and ceiling is created with the help of special rotating rooms and cables.

Music and sound

Soundtrack plays a vital role in Nolan's films. And the point is not only that he has been working for a long time with one of the best composers of our time - Hans Zimmer. The music, of course, is absolutely great, but there is one more important point: it sounds only where it should sound, and fades into the background when it turns out to be superfluous. Its place is taken by third-party sounds, pulsating rumble, creaks and much more. And then all this is very easily and organically interwoven into the music again.

Favorite actors

In many films, Christopher Nolan stars the same actors. Most often in the director's films, you can see Michael Caine, he starred in seven films. Christian Bale, Cillian Murphy, Russ Fega and other actors also appear regularly.

Nolan's new film Dunkirk has recently been released. For the first time, the director turned to the historical and military theme. Although he himself has repeatedly emphasized that this film is not about war, but about people and salvation.

In this picture, Christopher Nolan again uses almost all of his favorite techniques.

The plot takes place in three time planes: a whole week passes on land, the events of one day are shown at sea, and in the air everything happens in an hour.

Most of the film was shot with IMAX cameras with a minimum of visual effects. For the first time in the history of cinema, IMAX cameras were attached to real planes to show the beauty of flight. And the soundtrack is often replaced by just the ticking of the clock to convey all the tension of anticipation.

Cillian Murphy and Tom Hardy reappear in the picture, and, of course, Michael Caine is invisibly present. Although he is not in the frame, his voice is heard on the radio.

Like most previous works, the film receives rave reviews from critics and viewers, collects a huge box office in cinemas, and the share of positive reviews is close to 100%.