Book Review: Christopher Nolan — The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work

Publisher: Quarto Press

Release Date: November 08, 2022

Ian Nathan’s “Iconic Filmmakers” series continues to impress with this latest volume on Christopher Nolan. Those who have already discovered this wonderful series of coffee table books know that they can expect a “complete and intimate study of the life and work of one of modern cinema’s most truly unique directors, whose distinct aesthetic and imagination are unmatched in contemporary film.” In this case, Nathan hopes to “crack open the magic box of Nolan’s twisting universe,” a task that isn’t easy considering the body of work in question.

Examining both the making of and the inspiration behind his many, many hit films, from The Prestige (2006) to the hugely successful Batmanfilms, through to his mind-bending science fiction works such as Inception (2014) and Tenet (2020). Those who have read previous volumes in this series will not be surprised to learn that this earns an easy recommendation for anyone who admires Nolan’s work.

Book Review: The Nolan Variations

Publisher: Penguin / Random House

Release Date: November 03, 2020

Imagine a college course on the cinema of Christopher Nolan. Tom Shone’s The Nolan Variations: The Movies Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan would be the textbook. This beautifully rendered comprehensive examination of the director’s work is the most complete text on the subject to date, and it has benefited from the cooperation of Nolan himself. He has written a book that outclasses his incredible career-spanning texts on Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese (Tarantino: A Retrospective and Martin Scorsese: A Retrospective, and he takes a different approach to this volume in that he doesn’t present the information in a strictly chronological manner but is organized instead by thirteen themes and motifs (each constituting a chapter of the book): Structure, Orientation, Time, Perception, Space, Illusion, Chaos, Dreams, Revolution, Emotion, Survival, Knowledge, and Endings. Nolan fans will welcome and cherish this extensive volume as it will certainly embellish their knowledge, understanding, and appreciation of Nolan’s work. Highly Recommended.