FOLLOWING (2002)

The ingenious backward plotting of the indie hit Memento seems even more impressive once you witness the cruder narrative experiments of director Christopher Nolan's little-seen first film. A vaguely Hitchcockian thriller, it pointlessly jumps back and forth in time while charting the fate of a lonely stalker (Theobald) who gets mixed up with a nasty burglar (Haw). The shame is that all those artsy time leaps work against a very clever set of diabolical plot twists. Instead of relentlessly building its tension and dread, the movie barely knits together, and when it does, it's too late.

You Might Also Like

• Movie News ''The Dark Knight'' details revealed | Joshua Rich
• THE Q&A Batman director: My responsibility to Heath Ledger | Joshua Rich