One Step Beyond

There's the low-budget film, and then there's the no-budget film, the latter category of which The Following is a member. It's a story of intrigue, the soul of darkness, and imagery shot with a hand-held camera in sixteen-millimeter black and white. The film loosely focuses on Bill (Jeremy Theobald), who follows around people, including Cobb (Alex Haw), a thief and also an invader of others' lives. Bill is drawn further into an underworld that includes dark spaces, The Policeman (John Nolan), and The Blonde (Lucy Russell). The film was shot in natural light -- and only on Saturdays, as director Christopher Nolan and his small cast worked full-time in other employment. Actors Haw and Russell were told not to cut their hair and to stay in the country for the three months it took to make this trés minimalist film, one of the few true indies around these days.