Nolan's Guide To Dreaming

The most multi-faceted film of the year; Inception is a psychological "how-to" guide to dreaming. This film has so many layers in it that by the time you peel a majority of it back you realize the movie is already halfway through and you ask yourself, "whoa...how exactly did I get here?"



One of the things about this movie that I thoroughly enjoyed was the simple fact that you can establish whether or not you like this movie within the first five minutes of viewing. Whether it's crazy visuals to dramatic slow motion close ups and the linking of several almost unrelated scenes, Inception is a film that grabs your attention and forces you to keep watching so you can figure out the "how."

Inception, is the story of a rich corporate dude played by Ken Watanabe who hires Leonardo DiCaprio; whom is the self proclaimed "best" at stealing ideas from people's dreams; an "extractor" by profession. He challenges Leo to enter the dream of Cillian Murphy and instead of stealing an idea he asks him if it's possible to plant an idea so deep within his psyche that upon waking up he'll think it was an idea of his own; this is called an "inception." Don't ask me exactly who and what Ken Watanabe exactly does in the film other than being a device that pushes the plot along.

Now enter the "dream team," Leo's personal crack team of people to accompany him in carrying out his mission. You have the "no nonsense all business" Joseph Gordon Levitt who I think had one of the most memorable scene in the movie, you know...the part in the trailer where people are floating in zero gravity. Tom Hardy who plays the slick talking Brit whom is like the "Matt Damon" from the Ocean's trilogy. Dileep Rao who provides the team with a strong sedative to allow them to fall into a dream within a dream...within a dream? And finally Ellen Paige, whom is the newbie in the group and is only hired due to her architectural background via the recommendation from Michael Caine's character; who doubles as Leo's father in law and a teacher at some prestigious University in Paris, that's how he knows about Ellen Paige's exceptional qualities.

Now peel back another layer and you realize Cillian Murphy, who plays the other rich corporate dude whom Leo must plant an inception within has enough daddy issues to make even the resilient George Lucas feel ashamed for his contributions to cinema for the last 11 years.

Now peel back another layer and you learn that Leo is haunted by a past that will not be revealed until later in the film. And embodying his emotion charred past is his deceased wife played by the beautiful Marion Cotillard.

I don't even want to know how long it took Christopher Nolan to be satisfied with this story and all of its "rules." From start to finish the film is an interesting foray in dreams, and all the rules that follow so that all must abide by to successfully "extract" an idea from a dream. The audience learns these rules via Leonardo DiCaprio's mentoring of the young Ellen Paige, whom of course seems to grasp these complex concepts rather quickly because she like Leo is a "rule breaker." This quality is apparently necessary when stealing people's ideas and or planting ideas deep within their psyche.

Inception is a beautifully crafted summer blockbuster with enough explosions, chase sequence, and trippy Mc Escher inspired visuals to keep even the most ADD at bay while still stimulating the minds of those who look for more in film.









I thought this was cute:


Made by the good people at the spectrum.

4/4

-DK