Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Ken Watanabe, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine
Rated:PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout
As soon as I woke up this morning, I immediately thought of what I had dreamed, and why my subconscious would imply that, while visiting my friend Eric in Japan, I would run into singer/songwriter Matt Wertz… Thanks, Chris Nolan, for messing up how I look at dreams. Thanks a whole lot.
Inception, the newest movie by director Chris Nolan (of Memento/The Prestige/The Dark Knight fame) is his personal dream project, both figuratively and literally. Nolan has been working on this concept for years and, thanks to the success of The Dark Knight, had the studio backing (and funds) to pursue it. The plot is so complex, it would be hard describe within any reasonable amount of time, so let me just say this: it’s about implanting a dream in someone’s mind. (That’s so vague, it barely scratches the surface.) However, if you’re a popcorn munching blockbuster lover, this movie may not be your type: Nolan’s concept is so original and complex, it’s confusing and borders at times on impossible to follow. Yet, somehow through the visuals, Nolan gets us to not only understand what is happening (even if we don’t get all the details in between), but even believe that breaking into one’s subconscious (within a dream, within a dream, within a dream) is actually doable and understandable.
Nolan does this through his incredible crew, a virtual dream team (no pun intended) of filmmakers. Editor Lee Smith (my favorite editor, whom I try to emulate) is in top form, editing five simultaneous levels of reality at once, and not only it making sense, but making it exciting. Cinematographer Wally Pfister, although not quite up to his Dark Knight level, also provides us with some great visuals and shots, especially in floating and turning hotel hallway. While not giving us any recognizable musical themes (and hardly giving us a second of silence), composer Hans Zimmer (another favorite) gives us layered tracks that continue to build the feel and excitement. Nolan (my favorite director), himself, is also in great shape, giving the film a heavy and complex feel without turning dark. (In fact, this may be his lightest film to date.) The only missing component from the team is screenwriter Jonathan Nolan, Chris’ brother. While Chris is a fine storyteller without John, it’s apparent that the wit, skill, and originality of the communication is missing when compared to the projects that they wrote together. No lines stand out, no memorable dialogue, and at times, I felt that Chris could have communicated some of the details even more clearly had John helped. This even plays into the characters: besides giving Tom Hardy a fun and interesting character to play in Eames, everyone else isn’t very interesting. While the terrific cast (including some of my favorites, like Leo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and the lovely Marion Cotillard) plays every role relatively well, there isn’t much to elevate with their characters. So, Chris Nolan is mortal. He’s a genius, but still mortal.
Or, perhaps he was too busy getting to the heart of his story rather than working on characters. Like other Nolan films, he seems to be dealing with an overarching question. (For instance, The Prestige asks “what is the value of humanity?” The Dark Knight asks “what is morality?”) Inception is a movie, not about dreams, but about reality. In a dream world where creativity and control are almost limitless, does reality have value? Is it important? Nolan comes to conclusions on this subject that are important for today’s culture: we, like Cobb, live in a world where our projected reality can be controlled and created, from facebook, to photoshop, to online realities like Second Life, it’s becoming more and more difficult to understand the value of reality. In the movie, Cobb discovers that, while out of control and restricted, reality has value because it points to something bigger than ourselves. Unlike our dream world which leaves us dissatisfied, living in a reality with real pain, beauty, emotion, life and death requires faith. (Yes, I saw spiritual undertones in this movie.) This is an important message for those who are living in “dream worlds” of today (like those who believe that having five hundred facebook friends actually MEANS something.) That is why Nolan is such a successful director: because he is not only original, creative, and entertaining, but he also subtly asks questions that the rest of the world is feeling. His dreams look a lot like reality to me, and I certainly enjoy them.
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