Christopher Nolan season at the BFI: 1st -22 July

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http://www.rwdmag.com/film-and-tv/ar...thbank-in-july


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July's lead season at BFI Southbank is being devoted to RWD's favourite director Christopher Nolan, with screenings of his debut feature Following [1998], havent' seen it - need to. Through to his breakthrough hit Memento [2000] proper brain-fudge that one, seeing the Nolan we know now, deploying lower budget incarnations of the ideas he went on to master, making an undeniable classic, well worth watching in a cinema environment. Our least favourite Nolan film, Insomnia [2002] starring Al Pacino and Robin Williams, a remake of a Norwegian film of the same name, which contained more of the stunning visual techniques he would go on to deploy in in his next four films. Batman Begins [2005], almost underrated, if that's possible, The Prestige [2006], which features new pal Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman as rival illusionists in 1890s London, The Dark Knight [2008] the film that well and truly projected Christian Bale into his rightful place of public adoration and Inception [2010] which is essentially our Citizen Kane.
Check the full list and screening dates for the Christopher Nolan season at BFI Southbank below. The Dark Knight Rises screens at BFI IMAX from July 20, by the way.
Following
UK 1998. With Jeremy Theobald, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell, John Nolan. 70min. 15
A blocked writer who’s taken to following strangers he sees on the streets of London is confronted by one of his targets, who introduces him to the delights of a perverse form of burglary. But what would the blonde the writer’s just met make of such activities? With its scrambled chronology, stories within stories and its play with public and private, performance and perception, Nolan’s taut, densely intelligent thriller effortlessly belies its tiny budget. A remarkable debut.
Plus Doodlebug (UK 1997. With Jeremy Theobald. 3min): Experiences within experiences: all a matter of perspective.
Sun 1 July 16:00 NFT2
Wed 4 July 20:40 NFT2

Memento
USA 2000. With Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, Mark Boone Jr. 113min. 15
The film that won Nolan widespread acclaim, this astonishingly inventive variation on traditional noir tropes has a man (Pearce) determined to fathom the identity of – and then take revenge on – his wife’s killer. Trouble is, since her death his memory’s so shot he can barely retain any information – a traumatic, very vulnerable condition mirrored in the film’s chronological
structure, brief fragments of his consciousness waywardly working backwards in time. Tense, edgy, sometimes touching, this was a formidable achievement.
Sun 1 July 18:30 NFT1
Fri 6 July 20:45 NFT1

Insomnia
USA 2002. With Al Pacino, Robin Williams, Hilary Swank, Martin Donovan, Paul Dooley. 118min. 15
Reimagining the eponymous 1997 Norwegian thriller in Alaska, Nolan and writer Hilary Seitz turn a gripping policier about two LA detectives hunting for a girl’s killer into another of the director’s subtle, unsettling study of lives treated as narratives: will people believe Will (Pacino), wracked by sleeplessness, his partner (Donovan), or a novelist (Williams) questioning his assumptions and motives? The camerawork by Wally Pfister (with Nolan from Memento to the present) is superb, as are the cast.
Sun 1 July 20:45 NFT1
Fri 13 July 18:30 NFT1
Sun 22 July 20:45 NFT1

Batman Begins
USA 2005. With Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Gary Oldman. 140min. 12A
Nolan reinvigorated a tired franchise by introducing psychological depth (a backstory dealing with Bruce Wayne’s pre-crusading years), contemporary relevance (Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow threatens Gotham with a fear toxin) and echoes of his enduring fascination with the function of narrative in power-struggles. Accordingly, the threat feels all the more urgent, a mood enhanced by the production design, less fantastic and more plausible than in the earlier Batman movies. Katie Holmes, Morgan Freeman, Tom Wilkinson and Rutger Hauer fill out the cast.
Sat 7 July 18:30 NFT1
Sat 14 July 18:30 NFT1

The Prestige
USA 2006. With Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall. 130min. 12A
With his interest in competing narratives, truth and falsehood, it was perhaps inevitable Nolan would turn to the world of magic. Here, rival illusionists (Bale and Jackman) become outright enemies after a trick in 1890s London goes fatally wrong; their obsessive efforts to outwit and damage each other last years, allowing the story – narrated (but how reliably?) by a colleague (Caine) – to cut back and forth in time and place. Elegant, engrossing, ingenious, it also features Andy Serkis, David Bowie (as Nikola Tesla) and real-life magician Ricky Jay.
Sun 8 July 18:30 NFT1
Mon 16 July 20:45 NFT1

The Dark Knight
USA 2008. With Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman. 152min. 12A
Dark, indeed: Nolan’s second Batman feature delved deep into the anxieties of the post-9/11 world, be they about surprise attack, security strategies or the onset of sheer nightmarish meltdown. This time it’s the Joker creating the chaos, and he’s superbly incarnated by the late Heath Ledger in a performance as witty as it’s unsettling in its evocation of brilliant, uncontrollably unpredictable insanity. If anyone still entertained doubts as to Nolan’s ability to provide virtuoso action, this film surely demolished them.
Sat 14 July 20:45 NFT1
Tue 17 July 20:45 NFT1

Inception
USA 2010. With Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy. 149min. 12A
Proving that a sci-fi action blockbuster can be as complex, sly and witty as a Resnais film, Nolan creates a future where it’s possible to enter dreams to steal secrets – here, though, a fugitive thief-for-hire organises a team to implant an idea that might change the world. With its multiplicity of agents operating on various levels of consciousness, this is arguably Nolan’s most complex (and playful) tale of conflicting narratives yet. So audacious that the opening scenes are quite bewildering, it re-imagines the world to exhilarating effect.
Fri 20 July 20:45 NFT1
Sun 22 July 18:30 NFT1


That's right. About fookin' time too. It's been about a decade in the making for Nolanites. BFI are finally going to do the man justice and have almost a month dedicated to the man who is changing the way we experience film.

I get to see films I missed out on seeing on the big screen (Insomnia, Batman Begins, The Prestige) and relive the career defining Memento and The Dark Knight.

There hasn't been any mentions of seminars and Q & A's, but i'm hoping that there will be some surprises in store. I won't be able to go to every film, but I will damn sure do my best, and I urge other Nolanites who happen to be in the London to do the same so that they can witness the rise of a master.