Inception, though I've only seen it the once may be my favourite film of...
Quite some time, let's say.
I cannot stop thinking about it. Snatches of scenes continually float through my brain. And a lot of people, most of whom are better thinkers and writers than I have clicked a fair amount of keys discussing all sort of Inception minutiae. So I won't do that.
I'll just mention a couple things. One: the main complaint against the film is that it is a little cold, the emotional thrust of the film is a little muted. To this a have a few responses. The first is that I don't agree with them. It worked for me just fine. The scenes with the wife near the end got to me. I wasn't bawling, but I was moved. Also: this is a frikkin Nolan film! He ain't known for his melodramatic weep-fests. He has a style. And Inception fits his oeuvre perfectly. Finally...
Let's look at Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur. Within the dreams, he's all business. In the waking world he is also all business. Other characters mock him for his humourlessness. But when you see him asleep, working in the dream, he has a beatific, untroubled smile on his face. He's having fun, but only we (the audience) know this. The people, their job is to invade other people's dreams, they try to blend in so as to not alert the mind's defences. Bringing your own emotions into other people's dreams ain't the best idea.
Also: the ending.
I don't think the point is wether he's dreaming or not. The point is he doesn't care.
2 comments:
Nicely put. I'd go one further with ending and say that I don't think Nolan is interested in the answer either -- he's handing the story off to the audience at that point. You've got to figure out for yourself whether the Leo in your head is dreaming or awake. It's all very meta.
Also, I just had a discussion with somebody who didn't like the movie because "real dreams don't work that way". As though the movie had been Nolan's failed attempt to accurately depict a dream state. Talk about missing the point.
I forget where I read it, because I've read a lot about Inception, but someone wrote that they didn't like it because it wasn't like their dreams, no tits or random bizarreness.
I imagine they will enjoy the inevitable porn parody, Insertion, more.
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