Sumedha Sen (Sub Editor)
The acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan is well known for his nonlinear and complex style of storytelling. For over a decade, Christopher Nolan has entertained people with iconic film classics like Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Prestige, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, and Oppenheimer. However, with time, some feel that there has been a gradual decline in his style of filmmaking. Let us discuss it more in depth by diving into the cinematic realm of Christopher Nolan.
A glimpse into Nolan’s iconic film works
Memento, released in 2000, depicts the story of a man suffering from short-term memory loss who is on a quest to track down his wife’s murderer. As the story develops, the black-and-white sequences are shown in chronological order while the coloured sequences are shown in reverse order, and at the end both sequences meet. The story’s portrayal thrills the audience as it unfolds, making them think intensely.
One of his defining films that brought Christopher Nolan widespread recognition is The Batman Series. The audience adored the 2005 release, Batman Begins, which carved Batman out as a superhero classic of all time. Nolan brought the superhero character to life by mastering its ethics and values in a realistic world. Similarly, in The Dark Knight, which is the sequel to Batman Begins, the antagonist Joker creates havoc and chaos in the lives of the people. Batman accepts the challenge and emerges victorious in the psychological and physical tests necessary for him to fight against injustice. The Dark Knight showed every aspect of city life, from different classes of people to the justice system to the criminals to the cops, expanding the first part of the film. Human thought patterns and values, where both negative and positive thoughts can arise in people’s minds, serve as inspiration for the psychological conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. Nolan did a wonderful job of portraying this dichotomy. In addition to his direction, Heath Ledger’s performance made the film a masterpiece. He ended the Batman trilogy on a befitting note, giving it an ultimate conclusion with The Dark Knight Rises.
The sci-fi film Inception portrays the story of a thief who steals corporate secrets by using dream-sharing technology to inverse the task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his past life leads his team to disaster. The progression of the story will make you confused, playing with your mind, leaving you awestruck. Despite an open-ended ending, the film still stands out as one of the best psychological science fiction movies ever.
Another brilliant work by Nolan is Interstellar, the sci-fi film that shows where the earth becomes inhabitable for humans. In this film, a team of astronauts travels in a spacecraft to find a new planet for humankind. Astronomers highly praised Nolan’s portrayal of theoretical astrophysics and scientific accuracy, which is why it is known as another among the best science fiction films ever.
Nolan’s subjects for filmmaking revolve around the concepts of science, time, and memory, which made him direct movies like The Batman, Inception, and Interstellar. For over a decade, Nolan created some breath-taking movies that blow our minds, making us watch them several times. His work is characterised by mathematically inspired ideas and images, materialistic perspectives, and an evocative use of music and sound.
Nolan’s latter works
Tenet portrays the story of an unnamed protagonist who travels through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that unfolds in a way that is beyond the realm of reality. The film left people in a confused state of mind, unable to get a grip on the story as it was way beyond the imagination of the audience. The story developed in a haphazard manner, so people could not connect what was shown on the screen. The scene depictions were quite absurd in the film, which lacked a connection with the audience. Nor could they connect with the main character, about whom, nothing was revealed in the film. This film lacks depth as compared to The Dark Knight, which showed the psychological battle between the protagonist and antagonist that triggered the emotions of the people even though it was a supernatural character.
Nolan’s recently released film Oppenheimer is based on the life of scientist J. Robert and his role in the development of the atomic bomb. Set in World War II, the film shows how Oppenheimer rose to fame after inventing the atom bomb, and his moral dilemma after the bombings in Japan. Though the film brilliantly depicted the life of Oppenheimer, it failed to make as much of an impact as his earlier films.
If we look back at Nolan’s filmography, The Batman Series, Inception, and Interstellar were largely memorable movies that people will remember for many years. Their cinematic depictions have grabbed the attention of the public to date. However, Tenet and Oppenheimer appear pale in comparison, and they don’t connect with the audience. Nolan’s execution and storytelling of his earlier films were brilliantly made as compared to the recent ones like Tenet and Oppenheimer, which lacked connection and could not evoke emotion in the larger audience. In the coming years, will we see Nolan dishing out iconic masterpieces like he did before? Well, only time will tell. All we can do is anticipate the arrival of his next cinematic projects and wait for his future releases!
