The moviegoing public knows little about Christopher Nolan's film Oppenheimer beyond a basic premise and a cast of powerhouse actors. But since it is a Christopher Nolan movie, it's more or less certain that Oppenheimer will share similarities with other films of his.
All filmmakers that have made multiple films will inevitably see some elements start to repeat. This isn't necessarily a bad thing - while certain clichés are obviously bad, others can actually be good. The point of examining some of the more prevalent clichés in Nolan's filmography is not to make fun of him, but to help understand what makes Nolan, Nolan, and also to look at what to expect from his future movies like Oppenheimer.
Time
Time as a concept is perhaps Christopher Christopher Nolan's most well-known cliché. His characters are constantly thinking about how they can affect, extend, or reverse time. There's Nolan indicates in an iconic quote from that film). Time doesn't play a factor in all of his films (the Dark Knight trilogy, for example), but when it does appear, it's front and center. Nolan's unique way of talking about and portraying time has provided so much depth and texture to his films, and with such a complicated concept, he will certainly find more ways to mess with time in the future.
Non-linear Structure
Nolan doesn't just like talking about time in his movies, he also likes manipulating time through non-linear structure. Non-linear structure is commonplace across the film world (mostly in the form of flashbacks), but Nolan uses this technique everywhere. From the dual forward/backward structure of Memento, to the multiple layers of flashbacks in The Prestige, to the three timelines of Dunkirk, Nolan seems just as concerned with the manipulation of time as his characters are.
Even otherwise straightforward movies like The Dark Knight Rises have massive jumps in time. Though some casual movie fans might find this technique annoying or confusing, others would say it makes the films more interesting, and that it makes the viewer more of an active participant rather than a ive observer.
Bombastic Music And Sound
One cliché that most people would be quick to point out is that Nolan movies tend to be pretty noisy. Sometime the noisiness is an essential plot element, like in Inception, where the booming music is really just the slowed-down Édith Piaf song "Non, je ne Regrette rien." Sometimes it's an artistic choice, like the deafening war sounds of Dunkirk. And sometimes, unfortunately, it's loud for no apparent reason, like how the music and sound effects in Tenet render much of the dialogue completely indiscernible. Though it's still unclear whether Oppenheimer is a war movie, a thriller, or a drama, it will most likely be pretty loud regardless.
Practical Effects
Another aspect of Nolan's filmmaking style that pervades his work is his use of old-school film techniques. He shoots his movies on film instead of digital (according to Dunkirk he used cardboard cutouts to create the British army. And in Tenet he famously crashed a real airplane into a hangar. As CG technology has advanced in the last 30 or so years, its use has risen dramatically. Since CG is everywhere nowadays, it's often more exciting to see things done the old-fashioned way, so most people would agree that Nolan's use of these kinds of effects is a good thing.
Clear Visual Language
Though Nolan is certainly a talented writer (as his two Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay indicate), he often prefers to take full advantage of the visual aspect of cinema as opposed to the written word aspect. Sometimes it seems as if his movies would work just as well if they were silent movies. For example, the sequences in Hans Zimmer's powerful and influential music. Or Dunkirk, which Nolan originally wanted to film without a script. Or Tenet, where the mechanics of inversion are so clear visually. Since film is a visual medium, visual clarity is definitely a good thing in general. It's also helpful in the case of Nolan, whose movies are intricate and sometimes confusing, Whether or not each audience member understands all the details of his stories, it's always better to see them unfold instead of simply hearing things explained.
Ambiguous Endings
Another Nolan hallmark is his tendency to end his movies on an unclear or unresolved note. The Dark Knight ends leaving the viewer torn between feelings of triumph and dismay. But no Nolan ending has been debated as much as the final scene of Inception. Whether the spinning top falls or not calls into question almost every event of the entire movie, and provides the audience with one last puzzle piece to agonize over. While other filmmakers are more known for big plot-twist endings (M. Night Shyamalan, for example), almost all of Nolan's films end with some small, subtle ambiguity. Audiences like seeing the main plot of a film get resolved, but sometimes it's more fun to have one or two minor questions left unanswered at the end.
Parenthood
Parenthood is one of the key elements that permeates Nolan's work. Cobb's desire to return home to his two children is his central motivation throughout Inception. Likewise, Cooper's bond with Murph that transcends space and time is the heart and soul of Interstellar. The Dark Knight trilogy is bookended by visions of Thomas Wayne teaching Bruce how to pick himself up again when he falls.
Parenthood is a theme that will resonate with most, since the majority have had some experience of their parents. Since it has provided so much of the emotional core of his work, it must be quite personal for Nolan.
Michael Caine
One unambiguously good Nolan cliché is his continued casting of Michael Caine. The legendary and Oscar-winning British actor has appeared in Nolan's eight most recent films (Nolan's characters most deserves a standalone movie), to a voice cameo in Dunkirk. No matter how unpredictable Nolan's films can be, at this point it's almost entirely certain that Michael Caine will show up somewhere.
Brooding Men
The main characters in Nolan's films are all men, and most often they are men who are haunted by the death of one or more loved ones. Bruce Wayne mourns his parents and Rachel Dawes, while the protagonists of Memento, The Prestige, Inception, and Interstellar are all widowers. It's rather shocking that out of Nolan's eleven feature films, none of them are about a woman. Since his next film is Oppenheimer, it's almost certain that Cillian Murphy's character J. Robert Oppenheimer will be front and center (although perhaps equal focus will be given to J. Robert and his wife Katherine, played by Emily Blunt).
Women As s
Along similar lines, the female characters in Nolan's films are rarely as well-developed or as compelling as their male counterparts. Most of them, unfortunately, exist solely as devices that further the plot or the character development of the men. (Examples: Sarah, Olivia, and Julia in The Prestige, and Mal and Ariadne in Inception). A few exceptions include Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises and Kat in Tenet, who are both interesting and fully realized characters with their own unique motivations. Whatever the reason for this, hopefully Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh's characters in Oppenheimer can continue a more favorable trend of compelling female characters.
