I’ve never seen Chris Nolan‘s Following, which came out 12 years ago. It played a few festivals (Toronto, Palm Springs) but not Sundance, and I’m still too lazy to pick up the DVD, which came out in late ’01. IFC Films is guessing lot of folks who’ve seen Inception are just as lazy, and might be in the mood to check out this 16mm monochrome mood flick, shot in London. They’re re-releasing it on demand for three months via various cable providers.

“A struggling, unemployed young writer takes to following strangers around the streets of London, ostensibly to find inspiration for his new novel.

“Initially, he sets strict rules for himself regarding whom he should follow and for how long, but soon discards them as he focuses on a well-groomed man in a dark suit. The man in the suit, having noticed he is being followed, quickly confronts the young man and introduces himself as ‘Cobb‘.

“Cobb reveals that he is a serial burglar and invites the young man to accompany him on various burglaries. The material gains from these crimes seem to be of secondary importance to Cobb, who takes pleasure in rifling through the personal items in his targets’ flats. He explains that his true passion is using the shock of robbery and violation of property to make his victims re-examine their lives. He sums up his attitude thus: ‘You take it away, and show them what they had.'”