Prior to the release of Dunkirk, look back at Christopher Nolan’s filmography to understand the patterns and techniques that define him through the years.
Watch our video on the 12 trademarks of a Nolan film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQek7…
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Transcript provided by Youtube:
00:05
something
00:11
these days it can seem that no studio
00:14
will gamble on a blockbuster movie
00:16
that’s not a superhero franchise or a
00:18
safe adaptation but there’s one big
00:20
director working today who’s seemingly
00:23
able to make any movie he want
00:24
Christopher Nolan because his original
00:27
films and unconventional adaptations are
00:29
highly successful time after time he’s
00:32
one of the only Hollywood directors who
00:34
can command both a big-budget and near
00:36
complete artistic freedom as a
00:38
storyteller you’re looking for a gap in
00:41
the culture you’re looking for a great
00:43
story it just hasn’t been addressed 2017
00:47
Dunkirk gives us the opportunity to look
00:50
back and no one’s filmography and
00:52
examine the patterns that define him
00:53
through the years information is
00:55
everything to see through the fog no one
01:01
was born in 1970 in London and began
01:04
making films on his father super a
01:05
camera at a young age he studied English
01:08
Literature at University College London
01:09
and he borrowed the school’s film
01:11
equipment to make short films with his
01:13
friends on the weekends in 1998 he
01:15
released his first feature following a
01:17
neo-noir about a young writer who
01:20
follows strangers through the streets of
01:21
London the film cost a mere 6,000 to
01:24
make and Nolan shot it in 15 minute
01:26
junks with friends on the weekends over
01:28
a couple of months this work is little
01:30
known today but it’s worth looking at
01:32
because it already shows the seeds of
01:34
the directors later mature style bill a
01:36
30-something failed writer is seeking
01:38
inspiration for a novel so we already
01:40
see no-one’s trademark interest in
01:42
storytelling itself makes you think I’m
01:44
a writer anyone know employ
01:46
twenty-something offences himself a
01:48
writer
01:49
real leap into the unknown when I’m not
01:51
right but you’re interested in people
01:53
one of those subjects cause a name that
01:57
will pop up again in Inception takes
01:59
Bill under his wing as a thief and
02:00
things start to go south following set
02:03
the tone for Nolan’s career with its
02:04
nonlinear structure compelling plot
02:06
neo-noir feel and limited information
02:09
creating an active viewer who must
02:11
string the story together
02:12
Nolan’s second film memento brought him
02:14
instant acclaim and received two Oscar
02:16
nominations for its editing and
02:18
screenplay
02:19
putting Nolan on the map as a director
02:20
to watch memento tells the story of
02:22
Leonard Shelby’s is consumed with
02:24
avenging his wife’s death but has severe
02:26
anterograde amnesia
02:28
I guess I’ve already told you about my
02:29
condition oh well Oni every time I see
02:32
you he’s not able to form new memories
02:34
and we’ll forget information in minutes
02:36
which is why he’s obsessed with writing
02:38
everything down and even tattoos key
02:40
clues on his body in memento Nolan takes
02:43
subjective point of view to the extreme
02:45
reflecting Leonard’s condition in the
02:46
disorienting structure of the film which
02:48
is split into two inter cutting threads
02:50
a black and white coherent story that
02:52
runs forward alternating with a color
02:54
sequence that moves backwards but beyond
02:56
the intellectual challenge of solving
02:58
the puzzle the structure finds a way to
03:00
help us experience how traumatic
03:02
frustrating and mind-bogglingly
03:04
confusing Leonard’s condition might feel
03:07
from the inside renowned neuroscientist
03:10
Christof Koch called memento the most
03:12
accurate portrayal of memory loss in
03:15
film Nolan himself has said that he
03:17
denies the audience the same information
03:19
that the protagonist is denied but he
03:21
complicates our identification with the
03:23
character the counter intuitive
03:25
emotional reveal is that Leonard doesn’t
03:27
want the mystery to be solved or that he
03:29
wants to solve it over and over because
03:31
the consummation of his vengeance
03:33
doesn’t provide him the satisfaction he
03:35
thinks it will
03:35
Leonard cycle speaks to no one’s
03:37
interest in subjective reality and will
03:39
continue to see no one’s characters
03:41
defiantly embracing their own subjective
03:43
truth over objective realities the often
03:46
overlooked insomnia is no one’s only
03:48
film that he had no part in writing as
03:50
it was a remake of a 1997 Norwegian film
03:53
this was his first studio picture and it
03:55
was most important as a stepping stone
03:57
success proved to Warner Brothers that
03:59
he was the guy to reboot the Batman
04:01
franchise while it might sound
04:06
surprising to us now no one was the
04:08
first to tell Batman’s origin story in a
04:11
feature-length film the version of the
04:13
superhero is a darker more realistic
04:15
sigil ante instead of a cartoonish
04:17
figure with superhuman capabilities and
04:19
it’s easy to see how profoundly his grim
04:22
Batman shaped the genre ‘then
04:23
refreshingly nolan created Batman Begins
04:26
as a finished complete telling of the
04:28
vigilantes story according to the
04:30
director the sequels were never a given
04:32
the entire film is also essentially a
04:35
cold-open
04:35
the title card pops up after the whole
04:38
movie ends this choice signifies the
04:40
nature and purpose of the origin story
04:42
only after the events of the first film
04:45
is Batman a complete character ready to
04:47
begin his journey his Bruce Wayne is a
04:49
powerful example of Nolan’s affinity for
04:52
multiple cliff cells were given Bruce
04:54
Wayne as Batman plus a split within
04:56
Bruce himself between the deflecting
04:58
persona of an irresponsible playboy and
05:01
the damaged orphan trying to make sense
05:03
of the cruel world
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so the realism of Christian Bale’s
05:06
Batman really derived from the interplay
05:08
between these different parts of himself
05:10
and his persona know your limits
05:12
master Wayne Batman has no limits well
05:17
you do so in Heath Ledger’s Killingly
05:19
iconic Joker we see Nolan’s interest in
05:22
questioning that fragile line between
05:24
heroes and villains the Joker knows how
05:26
to use the hero’s moral code against him
05:29
and he wants to prove that under the
05:30
right or wrong circumstances anyone can
05:33
become a villain that ships it down
05:35
these civilized people they’ll eat each
05:41
other see I’m not a monster
05:46
I’m just ahead of the curve he’s crafted
05:49
these games to prove his bleak view of
05:51
human nature but his final game
05:53
contradicts those beliefs when the
05:55
people on the boats refused to blow each
05:57
other up at the same time Batman
05:59
transforms into the Dark Knight a heroic
06:01
figure who’s no longer a hero not guided
06:04
by a clear-cut easy morality I killed
06:07
those people that’s what I did you’re
06:11
not me by the end of the trilogy Bruce
06:15
Wayne doesn’t die but the character he
06:17
inhabits does he decides Batman was a
06:20
temporary fix for Gotham an idea and
06:22
symbol of good to inspire changes in the
06:24
city but not a permanent hero to protect
06:27
citizens from evil
06:28
created in the interim years of the
06:30
Batman trilogy The Prestige is adapted
06:32
from Christopher priests 1995 novel
06:34
Michael Caine John cutter explains the
06:37
three parts of any magic trick first
06:39
part is called the pledge the magician
06:42
shows you something oddly the second act
06:45
is called the turn the magician takes
06:48
the ordinary something and makes it do
06:51
salad extraordinary that’s what you
06:54
wouldn’t clap yet because making
06:56
something disappear isn’t enough you
07:00
have to bring it the film itself is
07:05
broken up into these three parts making
07:07
the procedure like a self-referential
07:09
investigation of movie magic
07:12
Nolan’s own particular form of
07:13
storytelling involves misdirection and
07:16
manipulation of our expectations in
07:18
order to pull off magnificent see as in
07:20
memento or Dark Knight obsession revenge
07:23
and violence are integral to the story
07:24
and we get the uniquely Nolan complex
07:27
plot nonlinear story line divided or
07:29
multiple cells and ambiguous ending mr.
07:32
Fisher
07:33
protecting events tries to access your
07:35
mind through your dreams you’re not safe
07:39
here
07:40
inception can also be read as an
07:43
introspective metaphor for moviemaking
07:44
we have a video about that if you want
07:46
to click on the I in the top right
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corner
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knowing he would have to explain the
07:50
complexities of incepting a dream into
07:53
someone’s mind
07:54
Nolan shows the classic heist movie
07:55
because exposition is central to that
07:57
genre structure however he wanted to
07:59
transpose the genre to work as a film
08:01
about dreams which focus on emotion and
08:04
the inner workings of someone’s mind
08:05
once again nolan combines action and
08:08
spectacle with unsettling questions
08:10
about the concept of reality raising the
08:13
idea that everything might just be
08:14
subjective malice death and the
08:16
ambiguous ending convey that reality and
08:19
dreams aren’t mutually exclusive or even
08:21
really separate it doesn’t matter
08:23
whether Cobb was dreaming in the end the
08:25
point was that he’s finally happy in the
08:27
reality he’s chosen to believe in he was
08:30
off with his kids he was in his own
08:32
subjective reality and didn’t really
08:34
care anything and that makes a statement
08:36
of perhaps all levels of reality are
08:38
equally valid we’ll be waiting for you
08:41
when you get back little older a little
08:44
wiser but happy to see you
08:47
interstellar is arguably the directors
08:49
least Nolan esque self it doesn’t use
08:52
more conventions and the protagonist
08:54
isn’t driven by a pessimistic impulse
08:56
like obsession or revenge the emotional
08:59
interstellar ends with the age-old
09:01
lesson that love conquers all that it’s
09:03
the most enduring expression of
09:05
humanity’s place in the universe love is
09:08
the one thing we’re capable of
09:10
perceiving that transcends dimensions of
09:12
times in space I think there’s something
09:14
about the starkness and the massiveness
09:17
of the amore
09:18
that really reduces his focus very
09:20
tightly to cumin bombs and what makes us
09:24
who we are
09:25
more characteristic of Noland the ending
09:28
is ambiguous the scale is more epic and
09:30
ambitious than ever and the audience
09:32
needs to watch multiple times to
09:34
understand all the science behind the
09:36
plot Nolan’s research aided here by
09:38
theoretical physicist Kip Thorne was so
09:40
characteristically thorough that
09:42
scientists wrote papers discussing the
09:44
ending again we see his preference for
09:46
practical effects he drew inspiration
09:48
from 1983’s the right stuff as usual he
09:51
saves CGI only for when it was
09:53
unavoidable the award-winning
09:54
interstellar had 700 visual effects
09:57
shots compared to guardians of the
09:59
galaxy’s 2,750 to give some perspective
10:02
no hiding from this Sun we have a job to
10:05
do John Kirk delves into world war 2 an
10:10
era we’ve seen a lot on screen but the
10:12
director classified Dunkirk as more of a
10:14
survival film it recreates the 1940
10:17
rescue of Allied forces in northern
10:19
France told as a triptych from three
10:21
perspectives land air and water
10:23
also in typical Noland fashion the
10:25
movies shot on 65 millimeter film using
10:28
IMAX camera however one interesting
10:30
exception to Nolan’s rule is that the
10:32
script is aamir 112 pages advancing
10:36
mostly through wordless action this is a
10:38
departure for the director who’s known
10:40
for his pension for exposition and
10:42
dialogue about survival and say it
10:44
wasn’t so much about was as about
10:46
physicality similar to interstellar
10:48
Dunkirk explores the human spirit that
10:51
which is intrinsic in us all also
10:53
characteristically Nolan drew
10:55
inspiration from a wide range of
10:57
sometimes surprising influences Nolan is
11:00
a master adapter and mixer of unusual or
11:03
counterintuitive medleys of inspirations
11:05
from art to literature to Greek
11:07
mythology inception descends not only
11:09
from heist films like on Her Majesty’s
11:11
Secret Service but also noir Kubrick’s
11:14
2001 a Space Odyssey for the practical
11:16
effects and the Greek myth of the
11:17
Minotaur in the labyrinth which inspires
11:19
the character Ariadne no one is a
11:21
self-professed movie buff that
11:23
begins was most heavily influenced by
11:25
donors 1978 version of Superman because
11:28
it takes place in a world that’s pretty
11:30
much the same as our world
11:31
no one’s also deeply shaped by visual
11:33
artists interstellar – robots were
11:36
inspired not by machines but by modern
11:38
art MC Escher’s Penrose staircase
11:40
appears in Inception representing the
11:43
infinity of our subconscious as you’re
11:45
also a spouse Nolan’s recurring message
11:47
that you are the creator of your own
11:49
subjective reality francis Bacon’s
11:51
grotesque work inspires not only the
11:53
Joker’s gritty makeup but also the way
11:56
Nolan pricks are crafted because you
11:58
never have the results to fully create
12:01
the world that you’re creating – you are
12:04
leaving a lot of voids or even little
12:06
gaps so part of what you start trying to
12:08
do is using those necessary gaps
12:11
intelligently so that where you’re not
12:12
showing something it’s helping you
12:15
rather than feeling the limitations of
12:18
the world you’ve created Nolan’s
12:19
ambiguity the gaps in the stories he
12:21
tells demonstrate that we can never
12:23
fully create the world but only our own
12:26
representations and interpretations of
12:28
that world through these necessary gaps
12:30
we realized more can be felt in absence
12:33
you may be grasping for resolution at
12:35
the end but he refuses to answer the
12:38
questions for us and that’s really the
12:40
point my wife was a diabetic
12:42
you sure
12:56
you
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video