Christopher Nolan is a polarizing figure amongst film fanatics. Arguments regarding his place in film history typically swing between two extremes: either he’s the next Kubrick —a daring, endlessly creative, perfectionist auteur of high concept big budget movies— or he’s an overrated hack who drenches his films in useless exposition in an effort to look smarter and more artistic than he is.
With the recent Blu-ray release of “Interstellar," Nolan fanboys have a lot to be cheerful about these days. Vimeo user and obvious Nolan uberfan Adrien Bssgt has taken advantage of that same release and has put together an epic fifteen-minute tribute to Nolan’s entire filmography, including scenes from David Wooderson’s adventures in space.
After a brief introduction, the video follows an episodic structure, showcasing Nolan’s body of work in chronological order. Appropriately, the tribute incorporates Hans Zimmer’s compositions for Nolan’s films, since Zimmer and Nolan are now the peanut butter and jelly of director/composer duos. It’s invigorating to hear Zimmer’s minimalist yet somehow bombastic tunes over footage from “Following”, “Memento” and “Insomnia," all of which were originally scored by David Julyan.
The tribute’s strongest points occur during the seamless transitions between films, although hearing dialogue from “The Dark Knight Rises” over footage from “Interstellar” is a bit jarring. One can’t help but wonder if Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox could have come up with a solution for dying crops. You can check out the tribute below. [35MM]
I never understood the comparison with Kubrick, to my mind Nolan’s always been the new Hitchcock. At least up until Interstellar Nolan\’s films have all been all variations on thrillers and focus on getting you into the head of the protagonist (who like Hitchcock\’s best hero\’s is always someone acting on the wrong side of the law) and sharing what they feel. Whether it\’s Memento twisting you around until you cannot remember what happened to minutes ago, Inception planting in your head the idea that reality is a dream, the guilt of De Niro following us throughout Insomnia or disagreeing on what\’s trickery and what\’s breaking the rules in The Prestige. Kubrick is rightly admired for his great output in many different genres, but his characters were always rather inscrutable to me.