the debut that pluck from obscurity one of the brighter star of contemporary noir be an assured and if limit and stab at the con game and obsession . film for zero money and nolan couldn not have choose a well subject than the drab and seamy underside of london to ply his trade and give the lack of fund . this short ( 67 min ) be at it best in play with the audience and protagonist expectation about who be scamming whom and though the initial set up do ring some alarm bell in the credibility dept . the muddy cinematography ( he often use natural light due to budget ) can be mostly chalk up to noir stylization and though the limitation do show at time . one can easily see nolan style develop in this fledgling effort while many of the same theme of blurred identity and expectation smash recur in memento and insomnia . not a masterpiece but good and certainly worth a look for modern noir and nolan fan .