The two movies Christopher Nolan named as his recent favourites
Having established himself as a true master of the cinematic spectacle, Christopher Nolan has repeatedly proven that he has what it takes to draw massive crowds to the theatre. His grandiose visions like Inception and Interstellar redefined the scope of the modern sci-fi thriller, garnering widespread critical acclaim and commercial success along the way.
The latest example of this is Nolan’s 2023 biopic Oppenheimer, following the life events of the titular American physicist who led the infamous Manhattan Project, which changed the course of the Second World War. Undoubtedly one of the most highly anticipated movies before its release, Oppenheimer was also responsible for starting a social media trend that gained immense traction due to a perceived rivalry with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
During a conversation with Time, Nolan spoke about the book American Prometheus and how he approached the project: “As you start to unpack it, you realise it’s not purely chronological, and the chapters are very neatly kind of interleaved. It’s thematic with this sort of underlying chronology… Everything else, I really tried to approach as fiction because I feel we’re not making a documentary. You can’t hide behind authenticity; you have to make an interpretation—that’s the job.”
The filmmaker also opened up about his penchant for working on big-budget productions: “I’m drawn to working at a large scale because I know how fragile the opportunity to marshal those resources is. I know that there are so many filmmakers out there in the world who would give their eye teeth to have the resources I put together, and I feel I have the responsibility to use them in the most productive and interesting way.”
While Barbie was the recent release that was mentioned in the same conversations as Oppenheimer, there were other movies that impressed Nolan more. In the same interview, the Dunkirk director was asked about his favourite new films, and he did not hesitate to answer. Nolan described Charlotte Wells’ breakthrough feature Aftersun as “just a beautiful film” and said Past Lives was “subtle in a beautiful sort of way”.
Both Aftersun and Past Lives are definitely standout works that have emerged during the past couple of years, gentle and revelatory in their explorations of memory, love, and the human condition. While they are very different from the kind of projects Nolan is usually involved with, that hasn’t stopped him from appreciating them at all.
Watch the trailer for Oppenheimer below.
