10 Non-Nolan Movies Christopher Nolan Fans Must Watch

Christopher Nolan is easily the most popular film director working today, and for good reason. While he certainly earned some popularity among average moviegoers thanks to his work in the superhero genre with The Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan has continued to prove that audiences are actually interested in seeing bold and original stories that challenge them to think critically.

Nolan’s popularity is seemingly at its all-time peak, as winning both Best Picture and Best Director for his masterpiece Oppenheimer indicates that the industry has finally taken notice of what a genius he actually is. While there has been no word on what his next projects might be, fans of Nolan’s work might be interested in seeing similarly ambitious and radical films that certainly were ahead of their time. Here are ten non-Nolan movies to watch if you like Christopher Nolan.

10 ‘Vertigo’ (1958)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Image via Paramount Pictures

Vertigo is one of the best films directed by Alfred Hitchcock, a filmmaker like Nolan who was so popular among moviegoers that his name alone was enough to generate interest in an upcoming project. Vertigo is a twisty neo-noir thriller that viewers may not be able to fully interpret until the very end, and is certainly a worthy recommendation for those that love Nolan’s crime films Insomnia and Memento .

Vertigo was ahead of its time in terms of its filmmaking techniques, including a memorable zoom shot and a strange title card sequence that reflected Hitchcock’s interest in pushing the medium forward. Fans of Nolan’s know that he is always interested in using the most modern technology possible in his films if it proves to be an improvement, and not an impediment, to the story that he is choosing to tell.

Vertigo

Release Date May 28, 1958

Cast James Stewart , Kim Novak , Barbara Bel Geddes , Tom Helmore , Henry Jones , Raymond Bailey

Runtime 128 mins

Main Genre Mystery

9 ‘Barry Lyndon’ (1975)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Image via Warner Bros.

Barry Lyndon is a bold historical epic that runs at over three hours in length, and would certainly make for a great double feature with Oppenheimer. Both films are ostensibly extended character studies about flawed men that were ahead of their times; Oppenheimer peered into the mind of the man who created the atomic bomb during the end of World War II, and Barry Lyndon stars the late great Ryan O’Neal as an Irish scoundrel that changes sides several times during a historic war.

Barry Lyndon is an extraordinary visual and technical achievement, as Kubruck chose to make the film using natural lighting in order to reflect the historical timeline. The non-linear narrative structure, amazing action sequences, and incredible musical score in Barry Lyndon all feel like aspects of Kubrick’s style that Nolan chose to adopt when he started making movies.

Barry Lyndon (1975)

Release Date December 18, 1975

Director Stanley Kubrick

Cast Ryan O'Neal , Marisa Berenson , Patrick Magee , Hardy Krüger , Diana Körner

Runtime 185 Minutes

Main Genre Drama

Rent on Amazon

8 ‘The Black Hole’ (1979)

Directed by Gary Nelson

Image via Buena Vista Distribution

The Black Hole is a surprisingly radical science fiction adventure film that became the first release from Walt Disney Pictures to earn a PG rating from the MPAA. Similar to Nolan’s 2014 masterpiece Interstellar, The Black Hole takes the premise of a standard space opera adventure flick and transforms into a surprisingly nuanced examination of mankind’s relationship with supernatural and technological forces that are beyond their comprehension.

The Black Hole represents the type of filmmaking that Nolan aspires to create today, as it is both perfectly suited for audiences of all ages and able to shoe horn in some surprisingly complex ideas. While sadly Disney has not made a lot of films like it in recent years, Nolan is ensuring that the legacy of The Black Hole will not be forgotten by making similar films that are imaginative and exciting.

Watch on Disney+

7 ‘The Crow’ (1994)

Directed by Alex Proyas

Image via Dimension Films 

The Crow was one of the first films that proved that superhero films could be aimed at adults, and undeniably laid the groundwork for what Nolan would do with The Dark Knight trilogy. The Crow centers on Eric Draven (Brandon Lee), who is brought back from the dead in order to avenge the death of the woman he loved.

There’s a dark shadow that hangs over The Crow due to Lee’s death in an on-set accident, similar to the uncomfortability that many viewers had watching The Dark Knight due to Heath Ledger’s death a few months prior to the film’s theatrical rollout. Thankfully, both Nolan and The Crow’s director Alex Proyas managed to make beautiful films that served as appropriate tributes to the legendary actors that sadly passed away before they could see the masterpieces that they were involved in making iconic.

The Crow

Release Date May 11, 1994

Runtime 102

6 ‘The Usual Suspects’ (1995)

Directed by Bryan Singer

Image via Gramercy Pictures

The Usual Suspects is a neo-noir thriller filled with twists and turns, and features an ending so shocking that even fans of Memento may be surprised to see how it is pulled off. Although it is initially presented as a somewhat straightforward heist thriller, The Usual Suspects proves to be far more complicated when the viewers realize that the main characters may not always be telling the truth.

Nolan is known for his ability to create memorable antagonists, and The Usual Suspects features one of the greatest villains of all-time in Keyzer Soze, who was played by Kevin Spacey in a performance that earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Soze’s ability to bewilder and terrify his enemies by making everything as confusing as possible can be compared to the chaos that Ledger’s Joker so infamously craves throughout the course of The Dark Knight.

The Usual Suspects

Release Date July 19, 1995

Director Bryan Singer

Runtime 106 minutes

Main Genre Crime

5 ‘The Machinist’ (2004)

Directed by Brad Anderson

Image via Paramount Classics

The Machinist offered further proof that Christian Bale is one of the greatest actors working today only a year before he would be exposed to a wider audience thanks to his role as Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins with Nolan. Bale notoriously transformed his body, losing a great deal of weight in order to play an overworked laborer who begins to question the nature of his reality.

The Machinist is a film that forces the audience to question whether the protagonist is reliable, as it's possible that many aspects of the story are part of an extended dream state. Although Bale has been initially thought of as a “child star” due to his work in Empire of the Sun and Little Women, his work on both The Machinist and several projects with Nolan proved that he was worthy of being celebrated as one of the industry’s most talented actors.

The Machinist

Release Date February 9, 2004

Runtime 90 minutes

Main Genre Drama

4 ‘Source Code’ (2011)

Directed by Duncan Jones

Image via Summit Entertainment

Source Code is a widely inventive science fiction thriller that plays around with time and perspective in a similar manner to both Inception and Tenet. Although director Duncan Jones had already made an impressive space opera with his extraordinary directorial debut Moon, Source Code changed up the time loop formula by exploring a former military officer (Jake Gyllenhaal) who is assigned to track down a robber while taking a train ride to New York City.

Source Code combines twisty plot mechanics, fast paced action, and clever character writing to create a great piece of smart entertainment that Nolan fans would appreciate. Although there aren’t many studio filmmakers outside of Nolan who are willing to take such bold chances, Jones has certainly proven to be an artist whose work is always worth checking out because of his originality and formal brilliance.

Source Code

Release Date April 1, 2011

Director Duncan Jones

Runtime 93 Minutes

Main Genre Sci-Fi

3 ‘Enemy’ (2014)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Image via Entertainment One

Enemy was one of the earliest masterpieces directed by Denis Villeneuve, a filmmaker who many have claimed as the “heir apparent” to Nolan due to their friendship and similar interest in projects. Enemy contains the interesting examination of identity and reality that Memento does but also weaves in some elements of body horror and suspense that feel similar to Nolan’s work on the underrated period film The Prestige.

Like so many of Nolan’s all-time classics, Enemy is a film that may be considered to be very confusing for viewers on first viewing, as Villeneuve does not go out of his way to explain the subliminal messaging. Similar to Tenet, Enemy is a film that grows far more entertaining and spiritually profound for viewers who already know the ending and thus can look back at the earlier segments looking out for the indications as to when the story will take a massive twist.

Enemy

Release Date February 6, 2014

Director Denis Villeneuve

Runtime 91 Minutes

Main Genre Mystery

2 ‘The Double’ (2014)

Directed by Richard Ayoade

The Double is a very strange independent dark comedy that shows the same ability to be inventive on a limited budget as Nolan’s early work on his first feature film Following. Jesse Eisenberg plays dual roles as a lonely young man and his supremely confident doppelganger, whose two lives become intertwined when they try to wrestle for control. Although it was a film that many audiences slept on when it was initially released in 2014, The Double has all the makings of a future cult classic.

Nolan is not always given enough credit for how funny his films can be, and The Double uses dark humor to get the audiences engaged in what is otherwise a fairly ridiculous premise. Eisenberg’s ability to play two different characters with completely distinct personalities can be compared to the similarly excellent work that both Bale and Hugh Jackman did in The Prestige.

Watch on Tubi

Directed by James Gray

Image via 20th Century Studios

Ad Astra is perhaps the most emotional space opera film since Interstellar, as James Gray’s grandiose adventure is actually a very powerful examination of a complex relationship between a father and son.Brad Pitt gives one of the best performances of his entire career as Roy McBride, an astronaut who ventures into deep space in order to find his father (Tommy Lee Jones), a fellow astronaut who had disappeared whilst on a secret mission.

No Nolan film is complete without a great musical score by either Hans Zimmer or Ludwig Göransson, but Ad Astra has an incredible soundtrack from composer Max Richter that makes the emotional moments between Roy and his father even more powerful. Frankly, the incredible use of visual effects in both Interstellar and Ad Astra are so outstanding that they put most other space movies to shame.

Ad Astra

Release Date September 17, 2019

Director James Gray

Runtime 124

Main Genre Sci-Fi

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