Not including Batman, all of his films are 1st person

The Oscar Nominated writer and director to whom this site is dedicated.
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With the exception of the Batman trilogy, all of Nolan's films are 1st person narratives, both in the way they are filmed and thematically. This is brilliant because it allows the audience to be a participant in each of his films, rather than a mere viewer.


Following is about, in one word, voyeurism. It was shot on a handheld camera, making the viewer feel like a part of the film. They ostensibly become a voyeur themselves, and the handheld camera helps deliver this effect.

Memento was told backwards, where Leonard doesn't know what just happened. Reverse chronology is the only way we could be empathetic to him, and as a result, we suffer with him, only knowing what he knows when he knows it.

Insomnia, I admit is a stretch, but Dormer (Pacino) is suffering and disoriented from his lack of sleep. I believe the movie attempts to leave us just as confused as he is by giving us as little clues as possible.

The Prestige is in and of itself a magic trick, and the whole film is one magic trick played on us.

Inception is about dreams, and I know this has been said, but to tie it all together, the whole film is one giant inception pulled on us.

In a way, his films are as cerebral as David Lynch's.

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First person is a narrative device which shows events as the protagonist sees them... usually not seen much outside literature because it requires a lot of narration. So basically Memento. What about that means cerebral? I'm not getting what you mean there.

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Well, I didn't mean 1st person in that sense. I guess I just find it interesting that the themes of each of his films help put you inside the mind of the protagonists. Each of them, as I described relates to the film. So while The Prestige is told in 3rd person, it is itself a magic trick. Memento's backwards narrative makes us empathize with Leonard because we don't know what just happened, etc. So each of the his films, for me, are more impactful because of this.

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