Let me know if you feel the same, but I have trouble watching many movies. As a writer, I am frequently engaging on a craft level, even with new films.
It’s very rare that I enjoy a movie so much that it sweeps me off my feet and takes me out of my analytical brain and into my entertainment one.
And I have to admit, this happens a lot to me with Nolan. Because I know he’s a masterful craftsman, I start picking apart every scene as I go. And it’s my fault when I wind up having to see his movies a few times to tell if I really like them.
But in my defense, Christopher Nolan is famous for constructing narrative puzzles. And I like working them out, although the director thinks I should just shut up and watch…Which I kind of agree with.
In a candid clip, Nolan told people like me to just enjoy the movie.
“It’s my job as a writer-director particularly to try and be the audience for the film as I’m writing them. People who really try and understand the structure or analyze it as they’re watching it tend to get very frustrated with it and dislike the film intensely. People who kind of just let it wash over them—which is more the way I’m intending it—they tend to sort of get it the way I intended it a little bit more.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lr2_STmSag Christopher Nolan’s Response to Making Complicated Movies #shorts #dunkirk #christophernolan youtube.com
Feeling Over Decoding
Okay, I have to admit, I feel targeted by that Nolan comment, but he is right; I do wind up loving most of his movies the second time they wash over me, and I have released all my anxieties about what’s happening.
I have to say, the first movie I watched as an audience member was Oppenheimer, which just blew me out of the water.
For Nolan, the goal isn’t to force the viewer into an academic exercise in real time; it’s to get them out of their own heads and entertained.
In fact, the moment an audience member steps out of the emotional experience to map out timeline mechanics on a mental whiteboard, the spell breaks and the movie magic disappears.
What Filmmakers Can Take Away From Nolan’s Approach
The lesson here for all of us is to be okay with setting aside our own desires to put a puzzle together outside our minds and become an audience member.
And with our work, we think about the audience as we put it together.
How they look, feel, and care—we should always have them in mind so we understand whether each scene clicks for them.
A few other takeaways:
- Be the first audience member: When writing a spec or directing a scene, constantly test the impact of every scene. If a scene relies purely on gimmicks rather than narrative, it won’t land emotionally.
- Prioritize emotional clarity: You don’t need the viewer to master every rule of your worldbuilding universe instantly. They just need to know what the protagonist wants and what’s at stake right now so they can follow.
- Trust instinct over over-analysis: Design structures that work on an intuitive level. You have to feel that it works.
Summing It All Up
The next time you sit down to write a script with shifting timelines or layered reveals or any kind of puzzle box that you use to see, ask yourself: Are you building a maze for people to solve, or an experience for them to feel?
Are you allowing room for the audience, not just the filmmaker?
Will people lean in when they read/watch this story?
Let me know what you think in the comments.
