Christopher Nolan and the Art of Bending Time

Christopher Nolan and the Art of Bending Time

Dunkirk is a corroboration of the fact that ace English filmmaker Christopher Nolan is not only obsessed with the concept of ‘time’ but is at the helm of manipulating it in every successive film of his. Nolan, since his debut film project, has given a relishing and thought provoking experience to the audience. He is perhaps the numero uno when it comes to the issue of marriage of populist blockbuster filmmaking with uncompromising art of direction. He delivers what we may refer to as a ‘holistic production’.

Nolan, however, might at the back of his mind reject all of these claims for a simple acceptance of his primary objective- the objective that drives his acumen or vice-versa. It’s the objective that overpowers almost every single production that he has undertaken and will undertake in his future projects. It’s the objective of playing with time.

In a way, Nolan is the ‘real-life Doctor Strange’ whose talents are comprehensively exhibited on the ‘reel-life’. He twists and turns linear time, he juggles temporal moments, he clicks lapses at certain points while slows it down relatively at other points; he withholds indispensable information and presents it through a different path- a different trajectory that is festooned with different situations encompassing the same characters, thus emphasizing on different emotions that develop in such different scenarios prevailing in the realm of the same circumstances.

1.       Following (1998) - Nolan embraces non-linear narrative from the word ‘go’. He avoids naming the characters, keeps it neo-noir and sly, uses restraint in the use of props and costumes. Quite ‘fight club’-esque in its storyline, his first venture is his shortest but one of the most significant.

2.       Memento (2000) - a movie that plays backwards. A great example of how the clichéd format of a suspense film can be reformed into a nuanced riveting thriller. The film’s start is in fact its climax and that doesn’t take away anything from it, rather it enriches the narrative in a very subtle way. The alternate use of black and white and colour frames strengthens our insight into the conscience of the protagonist.

3.       Insomnia (2002) – probably Nolan’s first ‘big-flick’ starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank. Nolan’s populist aspect of film-making comes to the fore, however still uncompromising with the erstwhile ‘indie’ elements that the young filmmaker had at that point of time.

4.       Batman Trilogy (2004, 2008, 2012) – Nolan sticks to a linear timeline for the first time and throughout- maybe just to add a generic feather to his time warping cap. The uniform space of four years in release of all three films must be noted.

5.       The Prestige (2006) – a contemporary masterpiece. The director ventures into multiplicity of characters in multiple frames of time.

6.       Inception (2010) – the film that established Nolan’s obsession with time. Non-linear framework at its best. The psychological realm of dreams and a futuristic tinge embedded in a majorly humanistic script. The director continues with the multiplicity he had engraved in The Prestige.

7.       Interstellar (2014) – a definitive work of Time-Space continuum. Scientific accuracy to abstract art. The film was lauded for its in-depth analysis of a complicated field- a mystery that continues to fascinate us.

8.       Dunkirk (2017) – a war movie like no other. A renewed form of storytelling- building three different threads occurring in three different scales of time- a week, a day and an hour- weaving them together and magnifying on the same event through three vantage points. Hans Zimmer’s ticking-clock soundtrack is not only music but a masterful metaphor that allows you to dive deep into history through interestingly unitary but diverse perspectives.

Nolan has been a co-producer for all his directorial endeavours which gives him adequate control over the resources enabling him to do what he wants to. One can note the uniform periodicity of Nolan’s years of release: 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004…2014. It is an arithmetic progression of sorts. Dunkirk falls out of the series as an odd-year release i.e. 2017- does this mean the man is about to challenge ‘time’, as we know it, to a further horizon in his next project? Only time will tell.