Inception
‘Your mind is the scene of the crime’ – that’s a damn good tagline. It’s a been a lousy summer as far as Hollywood film-making goes, we cinema fans have been treated to a succession of tired clones of previous films, bland episodes of exhausted franchises or yet more adaptations and spin-off’s from TV shows – where’s the originality? I like to think that Toy Story 3 aside (I’m not seeing it until Sunday but the reviews indicate another Pixar triumph) this creative vacuum is in part reflected in the seasons diminished box office returns, one hopes that a genuinely fresh and compelling piece of work like Inception can ignite the publics imagination and help get similarly cerebral projects green-lit in the future. In terms of the current climate Inception is a bravura piece of work, a vertiginous sudoku that encapsulates Nolan’s inquisitive musings on those themes of perception, identity and memory that litter his work, all cloaked in the guise of a Matrix style tent-pole action picture that he seems to have mastered. In terms of context I have successfully managed an almost total embargo on this one, trailers aside I haven’t seen a single frame of footage, I haven’t read a single review (prior to my first draft of this post) and I’ve successfully avoided all spoilers. Friends have sent me brief, one sentence extracts from the coverage that’s out there so I’m aware of the Kubrick comparisons, I can’t say I fully agree but we’ll come to that later – I’m not being precious, I just think it’s a mis-aligned comparison. I have also conducted a short Nolan season, revisiting Memento and both Batman movies as preparation (alas I couldn’t find my copy of The Prestige and I saw Insomnia on TV toward the end of last year), just to refresh the synapses and provide some sense of context for this post. So, has Nolan conjured a new masterpiece, a $300 million Memento or the worlds most unexpected remake of 1984’s SF cult curio Dreamscape?
I’m a little hesitant to provide a synopsis given that much of the films strength revolves around its unusual premise and the crepuscular sense of mystery that has been carefully draped over the project, rest assured I will keep this section as succinct as possible and completely spoiler free so don’t worry. Dom Cobb (DiCaprio) is a master embezzler, the master of the dangerous art of extraction, the theft of valuable secrets from the subconscious of corporate targets during their dream state, when their mind is at its most vulnerable and malleable. Whilst Cobb is the pioneer in this precarious realm of corporate espionage it is not without its casualties, as an international fugitive in the real world he is offered a final chance at redemption, there is one last mark that could realign his karma if he can accomplish the impossible – Inception. In an inversion of the perfect heist Cobb and his team must perform the previously impossible, the installation of an idea not the removal of one, a task that demands the plundering of unknown depths of the human psyche. In the usual caper movie fashion Cobb assembles a team of specialists to achieve his destiny and clear his name, unbeknownst to them a spectre from his previous incursions could lethally compromise their ambitions….
Having slept on this one (ho ho ho) first impressions are of an astonishing piece of work, all the more amazing for not pandering to the supposedly docile audience, on insisting in being met halfway and demanding some level of erudite engagement to fully appreciate the films design and purpose. Charting the subconscious in such a form, welding a Hollywood action movie on top of such enormously complex areas of the human experience is quite remarkable. I also admire a director with the clout and vision to insist of shooting on location – at last count we’re talking Tokyo, London, Paris, Morocco, Los Angeles, Canada and I’m sure many others – when everything can be manufactured digitally these days. That gives the film an urgency, a validity that evades most mainstream product these days, especially when you consider that almost all those mind-bending SFX were produced in camera rather than relying on unconvincing digital facsimiles and the fact that Nolan sourced special VistaVision 65mm cameras and stock to get his unique vision up on that canvas in all its glory. I concede that such attention to detail, such adoration to one element of the craft is a Kubrick touch from a technical perspective but we’ll come back to that…. 
I didn’t sense much of a chemistry emanating from the on-screen crew but individually the cast excelled themselves, I’m warming to DiCaprio I have to admit after this and Shutter Island (with which Inception invites many intellectual comparisons) and the likes of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy and Ken Watanabe all contributed admirably. Michael Caine occupies something of a mentor figure in his brief appearances and I sense an almost Tarantinoesque casting choice in the likes of Tom Berenger of all people, maybe Nolan was a big fan of Sniper 2, who knows? When you consider that he pulled in 
Rutger Hauer for Batman Begins in a role that just about anyone could have played – the untrustworthy corporate executive – one assumes that he is playing something of a fan-boy trick and good for him. Nolan assembles the usual suspects in terms of his below the line technicians, I’m talking about the schizophrenic editor Lee Smith, cinematographer Wally Pfister (whom is fast coming one of my favourite contemporary cameramen along with Roger Deakins, Emmanuelle Lubinski, Robert Elswet, Chris Doyle and Robert Richardson since you ask), the only omission being his usual production designer Nathan Crowley whom presumably was omitted due to a schedule clash, nevertheless those elements of the mise-en-scene has the same lustrous, smoothly ornate ambiance that have graced Nolan’s previous productions. The three biggest contributors for me are Hans Zimmer who has crafted another magnificent score (track to 8:30 for the aural delights that compound the recherché visuals), the empyrean Marion Cotillard convinces as Dom’s intangible siren but the real revelation is Tom Hardy (the new Mad Max apparently) who is going to go far, if you haven’t seen Bronson yet then check it out immediately, it’s not a brilliant film but his performance is astonishing. Now, to put some meat on the bones of this review I’m going to have to enter severe spoiler territory, I can’t see any way round it I’m afraid.
SPOILERS SECTION – Since absorbing some reviews over the past 24 hours I know that Bradshaw has mentioned his admiration of the scene in the alternate Paris that essentially equates cinema with a dreaming state, an exploration of the edit, of the cut that throws a narrative forward which we all experience when we slumber. I’d experienced the same cognition in what I think is the films best scene from a premiere viewing, it explodes that usual cliché that we’ve endured for decades and continues in the likes of Avatar (as a recent example) with those inserts of booming sound and hallucinatory visuals that reassure us that we have performed a transition from one state to another – that level of extraction (heh) from the films contours, intentional or not are what I really loved about this film, I’m positive that further gems will be unearthed on subsequent viewings. Compressing not two but three sorry four, maybe five narrative planes onto each other during the breathtaking major heist is just extraordinary and whilst I watch a lot of movies from all sorts of genres and eras I’ve never seen anything like it, especially when Nolan has the audacity to make them refract upon each other, to influence each other and build a bewildering sense of wonder that for me was utterly unique. I absolutely loved the mythology that is weaved into the films universe, the use of totems as safety devices for the agents in the dream state, the different timelines throughout the compressed plateaus of activity and the utilisation of the awaking upon impact hypothesis – they are all manipulations of the cinematic paradigm, of cinema as dream that also function as silhouettes to the films tension shredding credentials, of constructing an imaginative realm with its own rules and principes. The emotional arc of Dom seeking redemption for the death of his wife didn’t quite gel for me, however I concur that this narrative strand does build a sense of momentum and threat in this realm of the subconscious where death isn’t necessarily final, although it does result in other, less terminal consequences.
Although Ellen Page’s character can be considered as something of a Mrs. Basil Exposition device I can’t see how else Nolan could have delivered his ambitions for this film without a utilisation of such traditional techniques, of pulling the audience into the narrative complexity without some hand-holding, it might be a little too ‘talky’ for some but these alleged failures are overshadowed by the movies ambition and grasp. For such a big fan of Michael Mann it appears that Nolan still needs to pay some attention to constructing exciting and logical action choreography – on a surface level he is crafting an action film after all – then again perhaps you could argue that in the universe of Inception these aren’t necessary required and that confusion builds upon the perplexing aura that has been established. As the film moved toward its anxious conclusion, with the full visual revelation of that terrifying dream abyss Synedoche immediately to mind (maybe he should write Nolan’s next picture, that could be interesting), that architecture of the parallel world was almost, well, it was almost Jungian*. This was where the Freudian assassin, the simulacra of Dom’s deceased (?) wife really found her strength, hinting at the psychological phantoms that lurk in all our nightmares but as a friend has pointed out these developments did conjure further questions – exactly how did Dom escape that blissful incarceration? I loved the decision not to conclude on some dreadful twist that would have disintegrated everything that had been invested in the previous 150 minutes, that final drift to the spinning totem was an excellent choice, a movement that proves that Nolan has finally managed to provide an appropriate closure to his movies, even if it characteristically throws out all sorts of questions and suspicions as the credits roll. All those immaculately dressed protagonists exploring and perverting the psyches of human experience was magnificent, when I left a screening of Lost Highway back in 1997 I remember feeling quite bewildered and anxious during the journey home, Inception matched that experience and I can’t think of any higher praise – SPOILERS END.
I remarked a while back that these claims of Nolan being the new Kubrick was a little premature as he hadn’t crafted a 2001 yet, in a little filn nerd exercise lets compare the trajectory of their careers shall we? Both auteurs started with self-produced, self-financed, B&W ultra low budget calling cards that demonstrated their commitment to the craft aligned with a palpable sense of skill and technique – consider Following married with Killers Kiss and to a lesser extent Fear & Desire. They both delivered profile raising, clever genre movies that manipulated and challenged the notions of narrative conventions – Memento meets The Killing. Having ingratiated themselves amongst the aristocracy they both collaborate with one of the biggest stars of the era to cement their reputations – Douglas in Paths Of Glory and Pacino in Insomnia – which proves they can handle ‘talent’ and craft superb performances (Insomnia was Pacino’s last great screen role to date in my book) which then catapults them firmly into the A list, taking on the biggest blockbusters of the age with Spartacus back in 1960 or the Batman franchise in the noughties. This roughly parses Inception being Nolan’s 2001 or Strangelove, the ‘big ideas’ film that encapsulates the auteurs career to date, the technical innovations striking a new direction in form and configuration that will influence the art form for years to come – but that’s were the similarities end. Kubrick had much more of a broader vision, a macro level examination of his big themes – science, intelligence, sex, combat, the laughable constructs and frameworks that we develop to manage our ‘civilisation’ – whilst I’d argue that Nolan zeroes in the micro level, charting his subjects psyches, their character and personality, the repercussions of their obsessions that frequently distort and destroy them. Risking a clumsy metaphor one is Rembrandt and one is Picasso, both using the same canvas to explore their interests with different tools and techniques that the art form delineates in that moment in time. It is stating the obvious but Stan wasn’t exactly renown for populating his films with exciting shoot-outs and melee choreography (well, apart from that droog scene in Orange and the closing act of Jacket, erm…), I guess what I’m trying to say is such narrowly defined comparisons collapse under their own contradictions.
Many critics also quote the groan inducing claim that both directors are cold and humorless, because of course every film must have a quota of gags and a comedic sidekick, evidently those essentials appear as s
pecial deleted features on the DVD’s of Schindlers List or Sophies Choice. According to a podcast I listen to the hosts had read a review that criticised Nolan’s films for being ‘too complicated’ – I won’t bother to reproduce the mental (in both senses of the word) tirade that this prompted in my fevered brain. But enough of the comparisons and enough of Kubrick (never thought I’d write that sentence), it’s a little unfair to Nolan who is his own particular talent, I remember reading an interview with him in the Guardian back when Memento came out and his exasperation at the simile almost leapt from the page, he was modest enough to be flattered with the comparison and Stan is undoubtably a core influence I’m sure but lets let him get on with his own stuff shall we? Besides, I’d argue that Nick Roeg is much more of a apt comparison with all those narrative fractures, those dispersal of linear traditions but that’s a whole other blog post….
Some further good news, look who’s back behind the camera for his new project and here’s the trailer for Fincher’s new movie – the future is looking rosy, cinematically speaking. I can elevate this with some news from last nights 
Douglas Trumbull Q&A at the NFT following his screening of Silent Running, he revealed that he worked on the second portion of Malick’s mysterious Tree Of Life project, that both films – the IMAX Film and the ‘normal’ film – are both cut, finished and in the can, although I’m still confused (along with everyone else I’m sure) as to exactly how these two strands supposedly work together. Still, its nice to have another mouth-watering experience on the horizon just as one is being digested eh? Here’s some coverage on Nolan’s influences, here are some of the more intelligent reviews that I’ve just caught up with and this list of his favourite films is superb, particularly his choice of The Hitcher and The Black Hole which has always occupied a special place in my mind since seeing it with one of my oldest friends back in 1979. At least that’s how I remember it…
*Sorry.
Minty's Menagerie 
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