On the logic behind the jumping narrative style of "Follow"

Anya 2022-04-24 07:01:14

"One" When I
first watched the film, the narrative sequence I saw was as follows: (
Written based on the memory of watching the first time, relatively rough) Close -up with gloves at the

beginning
, opened the box, and packed up the pieces ) monologue "For a long time, I lived alone. This life became more and more lonely and boring. There was nothing to do all day, and I just stayed like that. From then on, I started to follow "Others" picture Long-haired Bill moves alone, drinking coffee, wandering the streets, reading newspapers, standing, and typing. The police asked "who" and Bill said "anyone" . There is a group of shots of long-haired Bill following Cobb, holding, shaking, documentary style. The police asked "Do you stalk women?" Bill said he wouldn't stalk for sexual desire, and set rules for restraint. On the screen, the short-haired Bill follows the sexy woman, holding four consecutive photos in his hand, following the woman to the bar (the bar is clearly marked) . Track the bar watchman. Police station Bill continued to talk about his rules, and then he said that he broke the rules and followed the repeating people. On the screen, Long-haired Bill's group of trailing Cobb shots continued. Cobb finds himself being followed by Long-haired Bill, apportioning. Cobb takes Longhaired Bill for a burglary. Cobb recounts his set of theories about leaving traces of someone coming, taking something to remind them of what they once had, and deliberately stuffing other women's panties into the man's clothes for the second. It happened that the hostess of the house came back. Cobb was very calm and pretended to be an agent to let him see the house. Bill felt that the reason was far-fetched. Cobb was confident that women would not dare to speak up because she brought other men home, and they just made some Small moves, no big losses.






















Short-haired Bill enters the bar, chats up with the woman, the
woman is mysterious and glamorous , and the
woman goes to the short-haired Bill's house, where the drawer and cabinet*, the broken villain*, the woman says that she dare not go home because the house has been burglarized*.
The woman's boyfriend is a dangerous person, with some means, but the woman is reluctant to continue.


With short hair and injuries, Bill
called Cobb to ask for self-defense advice
at the entrance of the bar

Long-haired Bill burglars
Long-haired Bill takes Cobb to his house:
the key under the carpet*, the broken villain*, Cobb questioning Bill's lookout lessons taught Bill a lesson.


Short-haired Bill goes to the woman

Bill sees the bar man coming out of the woman's house.
Bill entered the living room of the woman's house and looked around (the camera angle*), the woman told what she had stolen, underwear, pearl earrings*, thought the other party was a pervert, and Bill answered freely.
Bill went to the piano to find something *
Bill kissed a woman, a woman with dark and strange


recurring short hair and wounds Bill was looking out for the wind at the door of the bar
. Exactly the same)

Cobb and Long-haired Bill break through the door and enter the woman's house.
Bill enters the living room

. Cobb deliberately guides Bill to be interested in women's underwear and photos. Bill was surprised that there were pictures of women everywhere.
Cobb took a pearl earring and went to the living room to hide the pearl earring in the music box
. Bill secretly hid it for four consecutive shots.


Cobb took the long-haired Bill to
where he was staying. Booty


Short Hair Bill Dating Women
Woman speaks of horror of bar man, brutally murdered a man in her home.
The woman put away the blood-stained carpet and clothes (the woman didn't tell Bill about this) *
Bill continued to ask, the woman left
Bill to pay with a credit card *Bill with


short hair and injuries entered the bar to steal
a lot of money in the safe box *Bill used tape Tie the money and an envelope to yourself.


Cobb had dinner with Long-haired Bill.
Cobb gave Bill a credit card and asked him to sign the card. D. Lloyd
met the wine hostess in the restaurant. Bill was afraid, and Cobb suggested that he should change his image.


Long-haired Cobb
typed at home, ate, typed
shave, cut his hair short, became short-haired Bill

sorted out the things he stole from a woman's house: CD, candlestick, book, alarm clock, camera, box*, quadruple shot, underwear
Bill Open the box, the box is the opening 0 box.
Bill calls Cobb to say that he is dealing with women's things and reports that he has changed his image.

Cobb flaunts his success with women, Bill's stupidity, and the two are a team.


Short-haired Injury Bill steals money from a bar and tapes it to his body.
The night watchman at the bar shows up, and Bill knocks the watch out.
Bill runs away.


Short-haired Bill apologized to the woman, saying that he was a thief who had visited a woman's house, and that he was honest with a woman in order to gain her honesty. He wondered why women were still hanging out with bar men. The woman said she had a handle on the man in the bar, and suggested that it was some ugly photos. The woman said she knew where the photo was and the safe code, and Bill decided to help the woman get the photo back.

Short-haired Bill talks to Cobb about going to the bar to steal photos. Cobb finds that Bill has ulterior motives, and Bill confesses that he is in love with a woman.
Cobb hits Bill, and Cobb puts the glove in Bill's mouth before leaving* (finally completes Bill's appearance and behavior pattern into another Cobb)


Cobb and the woman, Cobb tells that he accidentally entered a room with a dead body, because he was worried that he would be targeted by the police, so he needed a scapegoat like Bill.

Bill came home and called to say he had money.
Cobb opened the envelope and looked at the photos, just some art.

Bill went to the woman's house and asked the woman why she made up a lie to deceive herself. The woman said it was for Cobb, and said that Cobb planned all this.
Bill asked "Why me?" The
woman said "You stalked Cobb, and Cobb stalked you"
Bill said he was going to turn himself in.


Bill told the police that he was done. Police questioned what he was hiding.
The woman talks to Cobb, who says he has work to do because the woman is blackmailing the bar man.
Police said they found the woman's body, and all suspicions point to Bill.
Evidence found at Bill's house: The pearl earrings are consistent with the woman's body (probably brought to the woman by Cobb after killing the woman).
According to the Cobb address given by Bill, it was found that it was D. Lloyd's house. , consistent with the owner of the credit card.

Cobb disappeared.


————————————————————————————————

"Second"
to clarify the thinking, infer the order of occurrence in reality:

first, to clarify the thinking One thing to do: distinguish different images of Bill, which is an important basis for clarifying the timeline. And the character modeling corresponds to the behavioral motivation of the characters in the development of the plot.

Divide Bill into four stages: A, B, C, and D as follows:
"A" Long-haired Bill: No purpose
"B" Short-haired Bill: Chasing a woman
"C" Short-haired and injured Bill: Stealing photos
"D" Surrenders Bill

Next, I'll list the "reality sequences" I've deduced, and these events will be marked with Bill's stage. Uppercase means that there are exact corresponding scenes in the film, and lowercase means that there is no stage in the film that can be inferred.
The content prefixes "" "a" that are both omitted and have little to do with Bill's stage in the film are

0. The man in the bar kills at the woman's house, and the woman hides the blood-stained carpet.
"" 1. Cobb received a task from a bar man to kill a woman, and the reward was the money in the safe.
"" 2. Cobb caught up with the woman.
"A" 3. Bill followed passersby aimlessly.
"A" 4. Bill broke the rules for the first time and followed Cobb repeatedly.
"" 5. Cobb's anti-stalking Bill.
"" 6. Cobb made a plan: Make Bill his scapegoat. Two sets of rhetoric are designed: one is for a woman to ask a woman to help him seduce Bill to make Bill actually commit a crime; the other is for Bill, on the one hand, he guides Bill to fall in love with a woman, and on the other hand, he turns Bill into another self.
"A" 7. Cobb exposes Bill's stalking him.
"A" 8, wine house, teach Bill to burglary, indoctrinate.
"A" 9. Bill took Cobb to steal his home. Cobb knew and deliberately reprimanded Bill.
"A" 10. Cobb took Bill to a woman's house and led Bill to become interested in women.
"A" 11. Cobb took Bill to his place of residence, implying that Bill could handle women's things by himself.
"A" 12. Cobb took Bill eats, gives Bill D. Lloyd's credit card, the two meet the wine hostess, Bill is scared, and Cobb hints him to change his look.

"A-B" 13. Bill cut his hair short, changed his clothes, and changed his look.
"B" 14. Bill sorted out the women's things, called Cobb and said that he could take care of the loot himself.
"b" 15. After Cobb answered the phone and lay in bed with the woman, he was complacent about his plan.
"B" 16. Bill follows the woman to the bar (beginning of the video)
"B" 17. Bill strikes up a conversation with a woman, and the woman is worried about the bar. The man doesn't accept it
. "B" 18. The woman goes to Bill's house and talks about the house being stolen, and the bar man is a dangerous person.
"B" 19. Bill goes to the woman's house and sees To the bar the man comes out of the woman's house. The woman tells Bill what he's been stealing, and Bill responds calmly.
"B" 20. Bill was dating a woman in a cafe. Bill asked the woman why she was still dating the bar man. The woman said 0. The bar man had brutally murdered a man in her home. (She didn't tell Bill that she had put away the blood-stained rug.) Bill continued to ask, and the two parted ways. Bill pays with a credit card.
"B" 21. Bill went to the woman to confess that he was the thief who stole her things, and hoped that the woman would confess to him. The woman said she had a handle on the man in the bar, and Bill promised to help the woman get it back. The two go to bed.

「B-C」22、比尔找柯布商量去酒吧偷照片,说出自己爱上女人,柯布怒揍比尔。Put the glove in Bill's mouth.
"c" 23. Cobb asked the woman to sleep with Bill, and told the reason why he framed Bill.
"C" 24. Bill prepares a plan to steal photos alone, writing, lookout (multiple occurrences, important events)
"C" 25. Bill calls Cobb for advice, and Cobb mentions the hammer
"C" 26, Bill takes the hammer Hide, put on gloves
"C" 27. Bill enters the bar, opens the safe, finds a lot of money, and tapes the money to himself. In fact, the money and stuff in the safe were negotiated by Cobb and the barman. The Night's Watch appears and Bill knocks him out, completing the actual sex crime.
"C" 28. Bill came home and called the woman, saw the photo, and was angry.
"C" 29. Bill went to the woman's house and questioned the woman, and the woman said that all this was for Cobb, to clear the suspicion for Cobb. But she didn't mean to put Bill in jail, she just wanted to confuse the police. Bill said he was going to turn himself in.
"c" 30. At night, Cobb went to the woman's house and killed the woman. This is his real mission.

"D" 31. The next day, Bill turned himself in to the police station and told everything, but was told that Cobb did not exist, and that the woman was dead, and he was the only suspect.
"d" 32. Cobb disappeared into the street.



—————————————————————————————— The second step of


"Three"

clarifies the character stages and the order in which they occur in reality.

Next, combine the first and second steps to
find out the narrative method of the film as follows:
(The numbering is extended to the second step)

Part 1 Interlude

"D" 31: Self-reported narrative
"A" 3: Tracking
"D" 31: Confession
"B" 16: With the woman
"BC" 22: Beaten (disconnected from the narrative)
"C" 24: Lookout (disconnected from the narrative)
"A" 4: Follow Cobb

Part 2
A1-B1-C1, A2-B2- C2, A3-B3-C3, cycle in sequence, A4 is connected to B segment, continue B4-C4, B5-C5 cycle, B5 is connected to C segment

"A" 7: Cobb found (A1)
"A" 8: Ke Mission Bill
"B" 17: Bill picks up a woman (B1)
"B" 18: Woman goes to Bill's house
"C" 24: Lookout (C1)
"C" 25: Telephone consultation with Cobb
"A" 9: Bill takes Cobb to My own house (A2)
"B" 19: Bill went to a woman's house (B2)
"C" 24: Lookout (C2)
"C" 26: Hide a hammer and wear gloves
"A" 10: Go to a woman's house for the first time to steal (A3)
"A" 11: Cobb's destination
"B" 20 ("a" 0): Cafe date (B3)
"C" 27: Steal money at the bar (C3)
"A" 12: Dining credit card (A4)
"AB" "13: Change the image
"B" 14: call Cobb (B4)
"b" 15: Cobb and the woman
"C" 27: Beat the night watchman (C4)
"B" 21: Steal photos for women (B5)
" BC" 22: Beaten by Cobb
"C" 24: Lookout (C5)
"c" 23: Cobb and the woman

Part 3 narration, interlude the woman was killed

"C" 28: See the photo
"C" 29: Bill questioned Woman
"D" 31: Surrenders herself
"c" 30: Cobb kills the woman
"d" 32: Cobb disappears When


I saw Part 2, I was suddenly enlightened. It turned out that Nolan was choreographed in a circular pattern of ABC, ABC, ABC. It may seem that there are no rules in jumping, but in fact there are.
In order to complete this new narrative law, each scene was shot very solidly, and basically one scene clearly explained one thing.

The debut work has this skill, it is really genius!

View more about Following reviews

Extended Reading

Following quotes

  • Bill: When I started to follow people, specific people, when I selected a person to follow, that's when the trouble started.

  • Bill: That's it, unless you have any questions.