A Masterpiece From a Maestro Even Before He Became a Master
Doodlebug (1997)
A movie by Christopher Nolan today is guaranteed to be a blockbuster even before it is released. Millions, maybe billions, will blindly flock to the theatres to catch the inimitable auteur deliver his next outing on the silver screen. Yes, he is that kind of a genius. But, how many of us would have actually paid a buck to watch the wunderkind, in his early days, display his unusual brilliance with his debut movie, Doodlebug? C’mon, be honest.
A little-known fact is that even before Christopher Nolan made his debut movie, Following (1998), Nolan wrote, directed, edited and shot a short film, Doodlebug, in 1997 while he was studying English Literature at UCL in London. Calling Doodlebug a short movie would be ironic; it’s hardly three minutes long. But, the theme, however, is so profound and the interpretations so multiple that it would take a 500-page book to write about it all.
Doodlebug is a short psychological thriller film which tells about a man in his squalid apartment trying to squash with his shoe an insect of some kind that is moving around the room. He is anxious and paranoid, trying to kill a small bug-like creature that is scurrying on the floor. It is revealed that the bug resembles a miniature version of himself. He squashes the bug with his shoe. However, every movement the “doodlebug” makes is later matched by the man himself, and he is subsequently crushed by a larger version of himself. Each time he kills the bug with his shoe, another bigger bug comes into the room. Jeremy Theobald, the actor who plays the man, also stars in Nolan’s debut feature film – Following (1998).
Since it is a movie without any dialogue, Nolan sets the mood with sounds. The clock ticks, the alarm goes off, the phone rings – Nolan vividly captures the emotions around the room. The screenplay is skillfully executed even though it is set in one room and even though the movie is rough around the edges, the mastery of Nolan remains undisputed.
The Birth of a Cryptic Genius – From Doodlebug To Dunkirk
It is no secret that Chris Nolan likes to add peculiar endings with various interpretations in almost all his movies. This one is no different. The ending has different interpretations depending on how you look at it. Doodlebug is Nolan’s Kafka-esque nightmare as he looks at insanity and how it affects people. One interpretation is that the man is insane and the film takes a closer look at how it affects the person; trying to get an understanding of how an insane person thinks. Another would be that what you sow is what you reap. Karma inevitably finds you and deals what who have so unforgivingly dealt to others.
But, my favourite explanation is this:
We can neither kill our past nor control our future in any way. We are just blindly following our dreams to be at peace but, in this process, we have crossed all levels of insanity which is eventually affecting us adversely.
All said and done, the movie isn’t perfect. Rather, this movie is a testament to Nolan’s growth as a filmmaker as he kept on adding cinematic skills to his resume which would soon earn him the respect of the entire film industry. But, one thing that is clearly noticeable: even in his early days, Christopher Nolan knew exactly what he was doing. With Doodlebug, Christopher Nolan has yet again succeeded in keeping me hypnotized while I pondered about the meaning of it all – for the entirety of its 179 seconds.
Watch it here:
A dimension inside another dimension (Doodlebug). A dream inside a dream (Inception). Time under another time (Interstellar) – Nolan’s deep-seated fascination with the metaphysical is visible in his works.
Your thoughts?
The Idiot's Corner 