August 16, 2010: Inception
I’m not getting out to see many movies this summer, partly because of quirks of scheduling, and partly because this is commonly accepted to be a fairly weak summer for movies. But I absolutely wasn’t going to let Inception disappear or have the plot spoiled for me, so I made sure to squeeze this one in.
I normally take notes on films I see, shortly after the viewing, so that when I write the review a month or two later I have some recollection of what happened and what I thought of it. With Inception, I deliberately avoided doing that, partly in order to make it more difficult to spoil the movie for others, but also partly because I just wanted to let my brain process the experience without constraint. This film has been hailed as one of the best of the year, that rare combination of a good action film with intense relationships which can still twist your brain in circles.
Inception is a sci-fi/fantasy vehicle, with a squad of specialists who essentially invade other people’s dreams in order to learn about their thoughts and try to influence their thinking. This inexact science is being used to exploit people, and the reasoning is perfectly plausible but isn’t really the point. Leonardo DiCaprio is the leader of this specialized group and Ellen Page is their newest addition as a dream “architect”. The film is about an attempt at an over-the-top mission in uncharted subconscious territory.
I don’t want to say much more about the plot, since it is a complicated thing to explain and really should be left as an experience in the film itself. I will talk about the pedigree of the production, and I can absolutely recommend Inception to anyone who wants to see an example of a great film.
The key point here is how a thinking person’s sci-fi action film, disguised as a huge budget summer film, came into existence. In two words, the answer is Christopher Nolan. As the director of Memento (2001), which kicked non-linear storytelling up a notch, he established himself very quickly as a guy to follow. In 2005 he was tapped to reboot the Batman franchise with Batman Begins, which was well-received but not seen as much more than a journeyman effort, though the film did well enough. It was the sequel, The Dark Knight (2008), which cemented Nolan’s reputation as a bankable director who could responsibly use a big budget and also keep viewers thinking at the same time. So now we have a superstar director with lots of money to play with and enough credibility that he can bring more unusual and more personal projects to the screen. We’ve seen that scenario spiral out of control on more than one occasion, with Waterworld (1995) and Heaven’s Gate (1980) being the obvious and overused examples, but it has happened more than you might think, and that’s why it’s becoming fairly rare for even A-list directors to be given such free rein with original stories. I don’t think anyone doubts that we’d see many more inventive films like Inception if more directors were given this kind of freedom, but the risk is understandably high for the studios.
Oh, but what a joy it is to see such a filmmaker assemble a team and just do everything right. I had a few quibbles with some of the details, but that’s to be expected with any such complex sci-fi film, especially on the first viewing. I’m looking forward to revisiting Inception in the comfort of my home, knowing that it will be a whole new brilliant experience the second time around. There’s not much more for me to say about it. If you’re only going to see a few movies this year, make this one of them.
Leader of the pack for 2010.
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