Produced by Christopher Nolan and Emma ThomasWritten and Directed by Christopher Nolan
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt,
Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Dileep Rao,
Tom Berenger, Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite and Lukas Haas
Christopher Nolan's latest film, Inception, is many things at once.
Imagine a world where in presumably corporate espionage, reality has become science fiction, and agents can plunge into the subconscious of a given target while they sleep and extract their most private of secrets.
That is the world in which Dom Cobb lives and works, as the very best extractor around.
But what if the client wanted something different, instead of extraction, could Cobb perform inception, the planting of an idea, so deep that the target would believe that they originated said idea.
Without wanting to spoil the film in any way, Inception is one of the most interesting films of the year.
Essentially a heist film, DiCaprio's Cobb (in a role that unfortunately mirrors the similar character arc of Shutter Island) assembles and leads his team into three levels of the mind to perform the inception.
DiCaprio continues to astound me with his talent and with every performance, he just gets better. The rest of the ensemble is spectacular. Former Nolan players Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe and Michael Caine join Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Dileep Rao and Tom Berenger in memorable performances. Ellen Page centers the film as Cobb's architect, hired to design the dream labyrinth for the job and Tom Hardy is mesmerizing as Eames, a forger who Cobb brings into the crew.
The film is visually stunning, but emotionally cold, nevertheless, it warrants multiple viewings to truly examine the layers that Nolan has infused. Inception is a film that needs to be studied and certifies Nolan's talent as not only being one of the rare filmmakers that can not only create blockbuster popcorn entertainment, but also create art that is open to interpretation, discussion and respect.
1 comments:
I expected to thoroughly enjoy the film –and I did. I will see it again before Monday morning. I have abstained from reading any reviews of the film in the commercial media, and I'm glad I have. I've overheard people discussing the reviews in papers like the New York Times and Time Magazine and I suspect that many celebrity film critics have done the expected in praising Nolan's gifts as a filmmaker while simultaneously backpedaling that praise to not sound like a gaggle of fanboys. Currently, the film has an 84% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, putting it behind Kisses (86%), Farewell (89%) and Toy Story 3 (99%) among all films released this year. I honestly find it hard to believe that any critic truly enjoyed Farewell or Kisses more than Inception, but some critics feel like they have to rate a foreign or indie film higher than a Hollywood film to secure their street cred (which enforces the idea that most people have about critics being completely out of step with public opinion), or to perform a bit of Indie film charity work. So much goes into reviewing a film, including the morning commute of the reviewer, and any arguments the critic has had with loved ones, so general attitudes about a film can change between the time a review is written to the point that it sees print. Since I don't write for a national publication that requires a quick review, I have the luxury of delaying my feature review. I'm sure this film will make my 2010 top ten list, and I may write an in depth dissertation about the psychology of the prolonged use of the cliffhanger in conjunction with the subtextual impact of the writings of Carl Jung, Milton Erickson and Deepak Chopra on the screenplay.
But my immediate, knee-jerk impression is that the film was as beautiful to watch as a Ron Fricke film, but carried a believable narrative from initial confusion to consolidated resolution without insulting the audience's intelligence. A lot of care was obviously put into the screenplay before the first frame was shot, and if this film had been presented in 3-D it would have had a strong chance of unseating Avatar as the top box-office gross. There is much in this film for audiences to connect with. It had, for me, the most enjoyable ending of any film I saw this year, Toy Story 3 included. INCEPTION has reinforced my belief that Hollywood can make expensive and intelligent movies that can thrill and provoke and most importantly: profit.
With this film, Christopher Nolan has proven that (alongside Darren Aronofsky) he is the best director making films in the English language. The studios haven't given this much power to filmmakers to pursue their own ideas since the maverick 70s, so let's hope we're in for a new American renaissance.
Feature review is forthcoming.
Post a Comment