Have you wondered any time how you know the directors that you know?
How did it pass to be "that movie I saw" to "I want to see that new movie of my favorite director"?
In my case, it all began with one movie, "Batman Begins" I was younger and I went along with my dad to see this new movie of my favorite superhero. I was still in love with those 90s movies (I was a kid, no a movie critic) and this new version still did not convince me so much. The fact was, I loved that movie. But by that time, the minds behind that masterpiece still were hidden by me. The years passed, and I was hearing about a new movie called "Inception" where Leonardo Dicaprio performed a principal role, I didn't see the movie but I always listened to its impact, about how you had to think to understand it and about that final. The same was in 2014 when a "really good movie had been released" and everybody talked about it.
But the real-time came in 2008 when his biggest masterpiece was released, "The Dark Knight", I don't know if it only happens to me but when I see a movie which I don't understand but at the same time I like it, I think "this is a really good movie". This movie had action, suspense, mystery, interesting characters, and the best of this director, a good script where all this is merged. All these elements are always accompanied by an atmosphere of elegance and a soundtrack that matches the history. This was the beginning to think about directors and their work more seriously. Why? simple, two movies, two beautiful experiences it couldn't be a casualty.
Humans beings are capable of find patterns in our lives, these patterns guide us to resolve problems and discover new subjects which satisfy our interest. Mathematics is a good example of this. By that time when I was growing up, my mind was able to find patterns in these movies that carry me to the only place where I could satisfy my curiosity... The internet. I have to recognize this is simple, but this is a place where we are addressed when the patters are so many. Here I found the answers to many questions
Who is Christopher Nolan?
How many movies had done?
Which will be his next work?
What!? Do The inception and Interestellar came from this director too?
And of course, I found the elements I had seen in his movies but this time well explained and taught. It was satisfying to be aware that a new movie implied that good experience to see elegance and professionalism.
Searching about his "old movies" wasn't less exciting, I learned how you can jump into the success with a relatively small amount of resources, this was the case of "Memento" where the script is one more time the backbone is a good movie. Pushing the actors towards challenging characters as Robin Williams in a dramatic roll in "Insomnia" or making use of visual effects at a big scale in "The prestige".
In this journey, I learned what a photography director is (you only have to see those takes over the french beaches), how you can create visual effects without CGI making them exciting (rolling up and down into a hotel corridor), or be moved because of those finals which match with a well-written script.
The success in the closing of "The dark knight trilogy" (which I always saw with mt father), the epic "Interestellar" and the beautiful-minimalistic "Dunkirk" are the proofs of how this amazing director can evolve to the new era and bring us magnifies art pieces.
Currently, he is compared with Hitchcock The Master, the reason is, both received good critics about their work and handle the mystery and suspense, however, they have done big blockbusters movies, the people like and trace their work. This a combination that is really difficult to find nowadays when Hollywood has decided to repeat old formulas brings back from the 80s and the fresh and original works have been reduced.
It would be unfair not to be mention, but Christopher Nolan's brother, Jonathan Nolan, have been along with him writing many of his scripts and helping with his career, this is the reason why I decided to start to watch "Westworld" an HBO series which have the same good elements before mentioned and was created for Jonathan. I recommend it to you 100%.
This director is the start point of how I began to get interested in the world of the cinema, many names have come after: Denis Villeneuve, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, The uncle Steven Spielberg (although this is another interesting history, for another moment), Martin Scorcese, Francis Ford Coppola, Stanley Kubrick and many more. This is my simple answer to how I began to know the movie directors seriously and got interested in this wonderful world. Thank you Nolan and thank you Batman.
And tell me, when are we going to watch TeneT?