Although Christopher Nolan’s earlier films leaned into psychological thrillers, it is interesting that his most famous movies lean away from this preferred genre, with The Odyssey leaning into a mythological fantasy adventure and The Dark Knight being a superhero movie. But, no matter the genre, his movies tend to have a few similar trends – voyages into memory and time, intense protagonists, famous casts, open endings, large scores, sweeping visuals, and puzzle-box storylines firmly rooted in logic.
Being such a large name in film, many might be surprised to know that Nolan hasn’t actually made that many movies when compared to directors like Spielberg or Scorsese. This means that, due to some familiar trends seen in Nolan movies, many thriller movies get mistaken as forgotten Christopher Nolan classics.
The Machinist Carries Many Similarities to Nolan, but Is Unclear Logically
Providing shocking visuals when it was first released, this 2004 film was best known for the extreme diet that Christian Bale put himself on to be able to represent the main character. In the film, Bale’s character Trevor begins to waste away into a skeleton-like form as his guilt and trauma make him unable to sleep or function properly. As this goes on, his mind begins to break, and he can’t figure out if the man stalking him is real or is a figment of his imagination.
The story is psychologically complex and clever, and for this, it is similar to Nolan films like Memento or The Prestige. Plus, Nolan often reuses actors, and Bale appeared as Batman in Nolan’s The Dark Knight Trilogy. However, the film does lean into dream-like states and unclear situations more often than Nolan would, as Nolan likes things to be tied off neatly.
The Game Questions Reality Using Intense Protagonists, but Is More Intimate
With a cast consisting of big names like Michael Douglas and Sean Penn, it certainly seems like the building blocks for a Nolan movie have been set up. The story follows a banker who is given a gift on his birthday that turns out to be a nightmarish game that drains his wealth and sanity. All of the classic marks are there, with reality being questioned, intense protagonists, and plot devices that feel like puzzle pieces.
Tonally, the film feels very similar to Nolan’s The Prestige, but the actual filming style is what marks this film as different and very much a David Fincher film. The scale of the movie feels less broad and more personal than what Nolan creates, with paranoia that haunts viewers, but in a way that feels innately intimate.
Paprika Presents a Nolan-Esque Dive Into the Subconscious
This 2006 Japanese movie follows the idea that psychiatrists have discovered a way to enter their patients’ subconscious, and one of them uses a fictional woman named Paprika as a detective to help find out what their patients need. However, this technology is hijacked, and the lines between the real world and the dream world begin to blur. With this plot summary written out, it feels as if Paprika couldn’t be anything else but a Christopher Nolan movie.
But although the plot structure, themes, and motifs are very similar to what Nolan would create and has created with movies like Inception, there are some key differences. First of all, Paprika is animated, and Nolan has not yet directed an animated film. The visuals are also surreal and too dream-like for Nolan, which does bleed into the plotline, with fewer rules surrounding how the technology works. Then, there’s the fact that the protagonist is a woman, and Nolan tends to only have women in supporting roles.
The Insider Feels Like It Could Be a Forgotten Nolan Biopic
Currently, Christopher Nolan has only created one biopic (Oppenheimer). But if this were to change, The Insider feels remarkably similar to what he could create next. Part of this is likely because the 1999 film about a whistleblower who exposed corruption in the tobacco industry was directed by Michael Mann, who has been marked as a major influence on Nolan’s filmmaking. Both directors use rules and logic to lay their groundwork for decoding paranoia, obsession, and other psychological unmakers of humanity.
They share a love for clever sound design, intense protagonists, and a penchant for using big-name actors to lead their films. However, they differ visually in the types of shots and cameras used, with Mann preferring more intimate, small cameras, and Nolan famously loving the IMAX options. Then, there’s the famous criticism that Nolan receives about not tapping into emotions enough, with Mann’s The Insider not receiving the same criticism.
Coherence Is Incredibly Similar Thematically but Visually Different to Nolan’s Films
Of all the options on this list, Coherence has the biggest similarities and clear differences to Nolan’s current films, but in this way, it feels a bit like a forgotten film that Nolan made in his youth before he gained the visual style he is now famous for. The 2013 story presents a classic puzzle-box dilemma about shifting realities, showing this as eight friends at a dinner party slowly begin to realize what is happening.
Nolan is notoriously a fan of a puzzle-box story (seen in stories like Memento, among others), and the intense and intricately detailed logic laid out by the friends certainly echoes Nolan’s love of logic and mimics the group problem-solving seen in movies like Inception. But visually, the film is not carefully crafted. The cameras are handheld and seem to move with the same breath that the actors do. Nolan would not, and indeed maybe could not, ever use such framing tactics in his own storytelling.
With a Stacked Cast, Looper Presents a Puzzle-Box Dilemma With Less of a Grip on Logic
A bit less forgotten than some of the other options on this list due to the cast, but certainly still underrated, Looper was released in 2012 and was a success with critics and at the box office. The story follows a group of people called Loopers who are contract killers who get sent back in time by organized crime bosses to carry out their orders. But a Looper has a dark future (and past, because of time travel) in that their older selves must go back and kill their younger selves.
The psychological drama, puzzle-box mechanics, and time travel are very mid-era Nolan and are somewhat similar to ideas from The Prestige and Tenet. And, as always, Nolan’s protagonists echo Looper‘s protagonists in terms of intensity and grit. But Looper leans more into science fantasy than Nolan has reached for, with a storyline that begins to go against logic (or, at least, refuses to explain itself) as time goes on.
Primer Might Actually Be Better Than Nolan’s Similar Films
Primer is like a better, more confusing, and far less expensive version of Nolan’s Tenet. Both use the idea of temporal manipulation, but in different ways. In 2004’s Primer, the story follows engineers who accidentally invent time travel and understand that the more they learn about it, the less they know, nor should they know. Tenet treats it less like a scientific mistake and more like a plot piece in an expensive spy thriller.
The movie does feel like Nolan beyond the idea of time travel mechanics and strict logic/rules. It is a complex puzzle, with protagonists who are intensely focused on their work (which runs the plot), and time isn’t linear. Audiences are thrown into the story, rather than gently guided through. But Primer could’ve used more attention to the score, which is a particular gift of Nolan’s.
Everything but the Ending in Source Code Feels Like a Classic Nolan Film
With fake realities (and alternate realities), a non-linear timeframe, programs that highlight government control, an intense protagonist, bombastic plot lines, strict rules and logic, famous actors, and a problem that needs to be solved in a very specific amount of time – it feels like a lie that any director other than Christopher Nolan could have made this 2011 movie.
As the story follows a man who has to relive eight minutes to find a bomber on a train bound for destruction, it’s clear that Nolan must have at least influenced the film. And, in fact, director Duncan Jones credited Inception as the movie that paved the way for more high-budget, challenging mysteries with mind-bending properties. But the main difference with this movie is the ending. Nolan would never have allowed the saccharine ending to take place, preferring to leave audiences with more of a question.
