YOUR MIND IS THE SCENE OF THE CRIME.
Some of our greatest thrills take place when we sleep. Scenarios play out in our dreams that are genuinely unpredictable and emotional. Regardless of whether they happen in a large-scale setting or in more intimate situations, dreams remind us of what truly makes us tick and provide clues to our personalities. Dreams fascinate me… and apparently also Christopher Nolan who’s been nursing the idea for Inception since he was 16. After making The Dark Knight (2008), he found himself in the situation where few studios had the balls to deny him the opportunity to make his dream come true.
Deceiving with dreams
Dominic Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his point man Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) are specialists at arranging dreams where a target can be deceived into thinking that events are taking place in the real world; Arthur’s job is to provide intelligence and they’re also working with an “architect” who designs the dream worlds. However, the latest mission goes awry and the target, a Japanese businessman called Saito (Ken Watanabe), ends up hiring Cobb’s team for a new job. He needs them to incept an idea into the mind of a prominent rival’s son (Cillian Murphy) that will cause him to dismantle his dying father’s empire. In return, criminal charges against Cobb will disappear and he will be able to see his children again.
A new architect will have to be hired since the old one was lost in the previous mission, and Cobb’s father-in-law (Michael Caine) introduces him to a brilliant student of his, Ariadne (Ellen Page), a masterful creator of mazes.
Finding clues to a dreamscape
In a summer where few blockbusters manage to deliver, Inception took on a life of its own and became so wildly praised that some audiences were bound to be disappointed. I can understand why Nolan is being compared to Stanley Kubrick, but the Wachowski siblings and The Matrix (1999) seems like a more appropriate comparison.
Just like that movie, Inception plays around with alternate dimensions and makes up complex rules that don’t always make one hundred per cent sense. There were many times throughout the film where I came close to losing confidence in Nolan’s capabilities. Having Ariadne ask Cobb over and over again what is going on, as the only way to make sure audiences keep up, is a lazy solution (especially since Ariadne should know what’s going on). And that whole sequence where everybody’s chasing each other on skis and then battling out in a wintry lair, turning Inception into a James Bond movie, seems like an odd fit.
A hell of a ride, with impressive action sequences and an intelligent, human story.
Still, when all the pieces come together and everything is resolved in all the dimensions (but still leaves one major, intriguing question unanswered in the final scene)… one is prepared to admit that this is a hell of a ride, with impressive action sequences and an intelligent, human story that is reason enough to watch the movie all over again and try to find more clues to this dreamscape.
Very good performances by DiCaprio who’s playing a tormented character along the lines of his detective in Shutter Island (2010), Gordon-Levitt as the humorless partner and Cotillard as the haunting wife; I’m also glad to see Tom Berenger back in his first major motion picture since Training Day (2001). Hans Zimmer’s electronic score does what Vangelis did for Blade Runner (1982), providing additional impact to Nolan’s muscular vision.
Inception 2010-U.S.-U.K. 148 min. Color. Widescreen. Written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Cinematography: Wally Pfister. Music: Hans Zimmer. Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas. Visual Effects: Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb, Paul J. Franklin. Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio (Dominic Cobb), Ken Watanabe (Saito), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Arthur), Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine, Pete Postlethwaite.
Trivia: Co-produced by Nolan. Will Smith and Brad Pitt were considered for the lead role; James Franco for the part of Arthur.
Oscars: Best Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing. BAFTA: Best Production Design, Special Visual Effects, Sound.
Last word: “Certainly Inception plays with the relationship between films and dreaming in a number of different ways. I tried to highlight certain aspects of dreaming that I find to be true, such as not remembering the beginning of a dream. And that is very much like the way films tell their stories. But I wouldn’t say I specifically used the grammar of the film to tell the audience what is dream and what is reality.” (Nolan, Wired)