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anonymityblaizeSo, finally, my thoughts on the movie that has taken occupation of my brain. (That's Inception, just in case you hadn't noticed.) Took me a while to muster all my thoughts, and I'm sure to have missed plenty of stuff. This is gonna be hella long and rambles all over the place, so I'm sorry for that. My adoration for and obsession with this film though, not going to apologise for that.
(I am however going to acknowledge that my thoughts have been influenced by the many amazing reaction posts I've read on my flist, so if I've stolen your awesome insight it's only cause it was so awesome!)
Let's start with the ending, shall we? That last shot is absolutely beautiful, and the score is just heartbreaking (more on the wonder that is Hans Zimmer later). And I love the decision to leave it open to interpretation. Personally, I think the top fell. My reasons for this include; the fact that it's wobbling quite a lot before the cut to black, and that the sound continues briefly over the title card and it really sounds like it's falling. My most important reason for believing this: I really, really, really wanted it to be real. By which I mean a heart-thumping, dry-mouthed, knot-in-stomach over-investing-in-fiction level of wanted it to be real. If a movie or show or book really affects me I find that my disbelief can be suspended so high that only Arthur in zero-g could corral it for a kick, and Inception managed to achieve that sensation. While the movie played, it was the only thing that existed for me, and I really cared about what happened to all those people and therefore they have to be real and it has to be a happy ending. I know that “it's real, because I want it to be” is not the soundest reasoning in the world, but I really think the ending is about bringing your own meaning. And this is the meaning I'm sticking to. (Although the theory about Ariadne being Cobb's daughter and the whole movie being an extraction job to find out if he did kill Mal is niftily trippy.) Also, the children aren't in the same clothes at the end, just similar clothes. So they're definitely real (cos I say so!). Also, also, I so desperately wanted that damn top to fall, that the second time I saw it, my heart was pounding almost as hard as the first time and I, like some kind of idiot, actually leaned in as if I could see it fall if I was closer to the screen. I think I may have conveyed by now that I really cared about the ending.
I stayed for the end credits (which I always do, because that's how us dorky cinephiles roll) and really liked getting to hear parts of the score again. I particularly liked that towards the very end of the credits they played a part of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” before the score boomed back in again – it felt like a kick for the audience to help us on our way back to reality.
Hans Zimmer really is a genius. For those who have not yet heard about what the score was based on, check this out. (Aside: Johnny Marr is also a genius and anyone who doesn't like the Smiths gets JGL's bitchface thrown at them. *beats![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rooferrocks with a dead horse*)
Mark Kermode described the soundtrack as harrumphing across the film, which I think is particularly apt. But it can also be utterly heartbreaking and delicate when the scene calls for it. (Especially in that last scene. I can barely listen to "Time" from the soundtrack without wibbling a little.) I almost didn't notice the score the first time round, it was so perfectly matched to each moment. But the second time my brain was less overwhelmed and better equipped to notice just how big and majestic the music gets in places, and how much it ramps up the tension in key places.
One of those key places being THAT sequence in the hotel hallway, of course. Most thrilling action sequence I have seen in years. I'm actually struggling to think of when the last time I was that impressed by a Hollywood action movie. (Because Banlieue 13 is a different kettle of fish.) Maybe the Matrix? That's going back quite a ways. Anyhow, that was just spine tinglingly brilliant and I'm so glad of Nolan's CGI-only-as-a-last-resort stance. And it was just as spectacular on a second viewing, in fact kind of more so since that time I knew there wasn't a single shot of a stunt double in the whole scene. I already knew that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an amazing physical performer but hot-damn that's amazing. Which leads me nicely to...
The shallow part of the proceedings. Sweet mama, so much pretty. Hottness all over the shop. I've always really liked Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor, but never really understood the “he's so dreamy” aspect of Titanic-hysteria. Now I'm starting to think that he has harnessed the magic of getting hotter as he gets older (TM George Clooney) so I'll probably find him very attractive indeed somewhere around 2018. Ellen Page I just want to put in my pocket. And as for JGL and Tom Hardy... hggggnnnfffffff. I really ought to stop myself now before I start rhapsodizing about cheekbones and legs and lips and eyes and... Well, pictures speak louder than lecherous words.
And tying into the pretty - those clothes. So many amazing outfits. And so much of it revealing character or reflecting themes. Layers and folds and knots in scarves and ties. Beautiful stuff – interesting interview with the costume designer here.
And the film is completely gorgeous throughout because of the wonderful cinematography of Wally Pfister. He's worked with Nolan a lot which is always a good thing (when reviewers go on about the talent and vision of auteurs or award-winning directors, what they're often really praising is the savvy of a director to surround themselves with a team of key people they work with over and over, developing a shorthand and a shared vision). Pfister is also one of those cinematographers who got their start in soft-core porn. It constantly amazes me how many people behind the cameras have a similar trajectory – seriously, check out half a dozen of your favourite movies on imdb and you'll find a least one person in the camera or lighting department who has on their CV titles like Body Chemistry or Erotic Tales of the Unexpected (I am not making those up).
Another reason I adored this film was the bantery banter of Arthur and Eames. (No, I did not just seque from porn to Arthur/Eames, you didn't notice that, it didn't happen, shut up!) Fandom at large has of course waxed lyrical at great length about these two, so I'll just note that I find it interesting that they represent two very specific models of masculinity but they're the "wrong" way round – the cocky, flirty conman is usually American, and the sharp suited man with the eye for details is usually the Brit. Casting those roles as they did kept potentially clichéd characters fresh and interesting. (And no, I can't imagine James Franco as Arthur. Much as I like him and his bonkers career, that wouldn't have worked as well.) Also, to those complaining that Arthur uses gravity to create the kick - you're wrong, he uses the explosives to send the elevator upwards (I only twigged to this the second time round, when I realised that they're all pushed to the floor and therefore must be going up) and so the kick is them hitting the top of the elevator shaft. ( Another random aside: Escher staircases! I have been obsessed with Escher since I saw Labyrinth as a kid. This movie just hits all my buttons. Seriously, add in a defenestration and an exploding helicopter and it'd have everything.)
But of course, the heart of the film is Cobb and Mal. It wasn't until about halfway home from the cinema that I realised that this was yet another "I have a dead wife, sympathise with my man pain" movie. And they usually piss me off no end, so it's quite impressive to have snuck that by me. I suppose it's because Mal's so present (a luxury few dead wives have) in the movie and so beautifully played that it works for me. But I'd still like to see Nolan make a movie that unequivocally passes the Bechdel test. It's his only flaw as a filmmaker as far as I can tell.
I'm a big fan of pulp crime fiction (despite the genre's propensity for dead wives and Bechdel test failage) and I really love how this film takes the conventions of the heist movie and twists them around on themselves. I especially like how the film manages to take the roles of the "client" (Saito) and the "mark" (Fischer) and make them be part of the team too. Not many stories can let you get away with that. But I suppose not many stories can get away with half of what Inception does!
And yes, Inception is a highly original movie that takes many familiar ideas and blends them together into something new and different, but I totally refute the notion that it's a confusing film. It's brilliantly edited in order to make it easy to follow and the different colour palettes of each level in the inception job help too. And while Nolan isn't exactly saying “fuck the average viewer” he is assuming that the audience aren't idiots, which is a refreshing change of pace from Hollywood's normal attitude to us punters.
Most of you have probably read about the idea that the film can be seen as a metaphor for movie making. I love this so much. Cobb is the director, a man of vision and leadership, but also madness and obsession. Arthur is the producer, in the hands on, getting shit done sense. As the creator of the worlds, Ariadne is the writer (or you could argue she's the set designer or cinematographer, but I like the writer idea best, what with the way she pulls the truth about Mal from Cobb). Eames is the actor, Yusuf is special effects, and Saito is the executive producer, the money man. Fischer represents us, the audience. And I've read some compelling arguments that Mal should be read as the Muse. This all leads to some interesting ideas. Firstly, and most adorably, this makes me think that Chris Nolan sees his wife as the Arthur to his Cobb. He must think she's totally badass, and I think that's really sweet! (I don't quite know what to do with the idea that Nolan is both Ariadne and Cobb, that's a bit odd, even for me.) Hilariously, it also seems that Nolan believes that money men should not get too involved in a project or else they'll get badly injured, or dead, or something. And unlike most Hollywood romanticizations of the idea of the muse, this metaphor sees the muse as something dangerous and potentially overwhelming, that bursts through your brain when you least expect (or want) it to. And then we get to my favourite implication of this metaphor – if you accept that the inception worked (which I totally do, because Cillian Murphy's face sold me) then the film implies that an emotional catharsis reached through participation in a fiction is still a real and true emotional catharsis. I love that idea. Films can make me feel genuinely better about a something in my own life, TV shows can elicit a real anger from me that inspires me to do something about it in real life, books can help me decide how to deal with a situation. I sometimes feel like the non-geeky people in my life are, at best, confused by my tendency to compare just about anything to fictional worlds that I love. But I feel validated by Nolan's view. Emotions are real, even if the situations that inspire them aren't.
Speaking of emotions - Inception fandom, I LOVE YOU. You are the infant prodigy of fandoms. You are smart and funny and very dirty-minded. And remarkably fail free so far. Keep it up. And please keep writing hilarious crack-fic where Saito buys the hotel/university/internet/punchline of choice. And![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
inception_kink, I love you best of all.
I'm sure there's plenty more to say, but I think I've rambled long enough. I'll leave you with my two tales of audience reaction to the ending. First time, the nearly packed screen let out an audible mixture of "no!" and "wha?" and a smattering of almost-applause (which almost never happens at my local cinema, and the only spontaneous round of applause I've ever witnessed there in about eight years of cinema going was for The Dark Knight), and the second time with a smaller crowd the audience was less unified in its reaction but no less palpably jolted by it. I walked out of that cinema feeling high as a kite, both times, and I am so having that blu-ray on the day of release.
I adored this film with every fibre of my being, could you possibly tell?
(I am however going to acknowledge that my thoughts have been influenced by the many amazing reaction posts I've read on my flist, so if I've stolen your awesome insight it's only cause it was so awesome!)
Let's start with the ending, shall we? That last shot is absolutely beautiful, and the score is just heartbreaking (more on the wonder that is Hans Zimmer later). And I love the decision to leave it open to interpretation. Personally, I think the top fell. My reasons for this include; the fact that it's wobbling quite a lot before the cut to black, and that the sound continues briefly over the title card and it really sounds like it's falling. My most important reason for believing this: I really, really, really wanted it to be real. By which I mean a heart-thumping, dry-mouthed, knot-in-stomach over-investing-in-fiction level of wanted it to be real. If a movie or show or book really affects me I find that my disbelief can be suspended so high that only Arthur in zero-g could corral it for a kick, and Inception managed to achieve that sensation. While the movie played, it was the only thing that existed for me, and I really cared about what happened to all those people and therefore they have to be real and it has to be a happy ending. I know that “it's real, because I want it to be” is not the soundest reasoning in the world, but I really think the ending is about bringing your own meaning. And this is the meaning I'm sticking to. (Although the theory about Ariadne being Cobb's daughter and the whole movie being an extraction job to find out if he did kill Mal is niftily trippy.) Also, the children aren't in the same clothes at the end, just similar clothes. So they're definitely real (cos I say so!). Also, also, I so desperately wanted that damn top to fall, that the second time I saw it, my heart was pounding almost as hard as the first time and I, like some kind of idiot, actually leaned in as if I could see it fall if I was closer to the screen. I think I may have conveyed by now that I really cared about the ending.
I stayed for the end credits (which I always do, because that's how us dorky cinephiles roll) and really liked getting to hear parts of the score again. I particularly liked that towards the very end of the credits they played a part of “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien” before the score boomed back in again – it felt like a kick for the audience to help us on our way back to reality.
Hans Zimmer really is a genius. For those who have not yet heard about what the score was based on, check this out. (Aside: Johnny Marr is also a genius and anyone who doesn't like the Smiths gets JGL's bitchface thrown at them. *beats
rooferrocks with a dead horse*)Mark Kermode described the soundtrack as harrumphing across the film, which I think is particularly apt. But it can also be utterly heartbreaking and delicate when the scene calls for it. (Especially in that last scene. I can barely listen to "Time" from the soundtrack without wibbling a little.) I almost didn't notice the score the first time round, it was so perfectly matched to each moment. But the second time my brain was less overwhelmed and better equipped to notice just how big and majestic the music gets in places, and how much it ramps up the tension in key places.
One of those key places being THAT sequence in the hotel hallway, of course. Most thrilling action sequence I have seen in years. I'm actually struggling to think of when the last time I was that impressed by a Hollywood action movie. (Because Banlieue 13 is a different kettle of fish.) Maybe the Matrix? That's going back quite a ways. Anyhow, that was just spine tinglingly brilliant and I'm so glad of Nolan's CGI-only-as-a-last-resort stance. And it was just as spectacular on a second viewing, in fact kind of more so since that time I knew there wasn't a single shot of a stunt double in the whole scene. I already knew that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an amazing physical performer but hot-damn that's amazing. Which leads me nicely to...
The shallow part of the proceedings. Sweet mama, so much pretty. Hottness all over the shop. I've always really liked Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor, but never really understood the “he's so dreamy” aspect of Titanic-hysteria. Now I'm starting to think that he has harnessed the magic of getting hotter as he gets older (TM George Clooney) so I'll probably find him very attractive indeed somewhere around 2018. Ellen Page I just want to put in my pocket. And as for JGL and Tom Hardy... hggggnnnfffffff. I really ought to stop myself now before I start rhapsodizing about cheekbones and legs and lips and eyes and... Well, pictures speak louder than lecherous words.
And tying into the pretty - those clothes. So many amazing outfits. And so much of it revealing character or reflecting themes. Layers and folds and knots in scarves and ties. Beautiful stuff – interesting interview with the costume designer here.
And the film is completely gorgeous throughout because of the wonderful cinematography of Wally Pfister. He's worked with Nolan a lot which is always a good thing (when reviewers go on about the talent and vision of auteurs or award-winning directors, what they're often really praising is the savvy of a director to surround themselves with a team of key people they work with over and over, developing a shorthand and a shared vision). Pfister is also one of those cinematographers who got their start in soft-core porn. It constantly amazes me how many people behind the cameras have a similar trajectory – seriously, check out half a dozen of your favourite movies on imdb and you'll find a least one person in the camera or lighting department who has on their CV titles like Body Chemistry or Erotic Tales of the Unexpected (I am not making those up).
Another reason I adored this film was the bantery banter of Arthur and Eames. (No, I did not just seque from porn to Arthur/Eames, you didn't notice that, it didn't happen, shut up!) Fandom at large has of course waxed lyrical at great length about these two, so I'll just note that I find it interesting that they represent two very specific models of masculinity but they're the "wrong" way round – the cocky, flirty conman is usually American, and the sharp suited man with the eye for details is usually the Brit. Casting those roles as they did kept potentially clichéd characters fresh and interesting. (And no, I can't imagine James Franco as Arthur. Much as I like him and his bonkers career, that wouldn't have worked as well.) Also, to those complaining that Arthur uses gravity to create the kick - you're wrong, he uses the explosives to send the elevator upwards (I only twigged to this the second time round, when I realised that they're all pushed to the floor and therefore must be going up) and so the kick is them hitting the top of the elevator shaft. ( Another random aside: Escher staircases! I have been obsessed with Escher since I saw Labyrinth as a kid. This movie just hits all my buttons. Seriously, add in a defenestration and an exploding helicopter and it'd have everything.)
But of course, the heart of the film is Cobb and Mal. It wasn't until about halfway home from the cinema that I realised that this was yet another "I have a dead wife, sympathise with my man pain" movie. And they usually piss me off no end, so it's quite impressive to have snuck that by me. I suppose it's because Mal's so present (a luxury few dead wives have) in the movie and so beautifully played that it works for me. But I'd still like to see Nolan make a movie that unequivocally passes the Bechdel test. It's his only flaw as a filmmaker as far as I can tell.
I'm a big fan of pulp crime fiction (despite the genre's propensity for dead wives and Bechdel test failage) and I really love how this film takes the conventions of the heist movie and twists them around on themselves. I especially like how the film manages to take the roles of the "client" (Saito) and the "mark" (Fischer) and make them be part of the team too. Not many stories can let you get away with that. But I suppose not many stories can get away with half of what Inception does!
And yes, Inception is a highly original movie that takes many familiar ideas and blends them together into something new and different, but I totally refute the notion that it's a confusing film. It's brilliantly edited in order to make it easy to follow and the different colour palettes of each level in the inception job help too. And while Nolan isn't exactly saying “fuck the average viewer” he is assuming that the audience aren't idiots, which is a refreshing change of pace from Hollywood's normal attitude to us punters.
Most of you have probably read about the idea that the film can be seen as a metaphor for movie making. I love this so much. Cobb is the director, a man of vision and leadership, but also madness and obsession. Arthur is the producer, in the hands on, getting shit done sense. As the creator of the worlds, Ariadne is the writer (or you could argue she's the set designer or cinematographer, but I like the writer idea best, what with the way she pulls the truth about Mal from Cobb). Eames is the actor, Yusuf is special effects, and Saito is the executive producer, the money man. Fischer represents us, the audience. And I've read some compelling arguments that Mal should be read as the Muse. This all leads to some interesting ideas. Firstly, and most adorably, this makes me think that Chris Nolan sees his wife as the Arthur to his Cobb. He must think she's totally badass, and I think that's really sweet! (I don't quite know what to do with the idea that Nolan is both Ariadne and Cobb, that's a bit odd, even for me.) Hilariously, it also seems that Nolan believes that money men should not get too involved in a project or else they'll get badly injured, or dead, or something. And unlike most Hollywood romanticizations of the idea of the muse, this metaphor sees the muse as something dangerous and potentially overwhelming, that bursts through your brain when you least expect (or want) it to. And then we get to my favourite implication of this metaphor – if you accept that the inception worked (which I totally do, because Cillian Murphy's face sold me) then the film implies that an emotional catharsis reached through participation in a fiction is still a real and true emotional catharsis. I love that idea. Films can make me feel genuinely better about a something in my own life, TV shows can elicit a real anger from me that inspires me to do something about it in real life, books can help me decide how to deal with a situation. I sometimes feel like the non-geeky people in my life are, at best, confused by my tendency to compare just about anything to fictional worlds that I love. But I feel validated by Nolan's view. Emotions are real, even if the situations that inspire them aren't.
Speaking of emotions - Inception fandom, I LOVE YOU. You are the infant prodigy of fandoms. You are smart and funny and very dirty-minded. And remarkably fail free so far. Keep it up. And please keep writing hilarious crack-fic where Saito buys the hotel/university/internet/punchline of choice. And
inception_kink, I love you best of all.I'm sure there's plenty more to say, but I think I've rambled long enough. I'll leave you with my two tales of audience reaction to the ending. First time, the nearly packed screen let out an audible mixture of "no!" and "wha?" and a smattering of almost-applause (which almost never happens at my local cinema, and the only spontaneous round of applause I've ever witnessed there in about eight years of cinema going was for The Dark Knight), and the second time with a smaller crowd the audience was less unified in its reaction but no less palpably jolted by it. I walked out of that cinema feeling high as a kite, both times, and I am so having that blu-ray on the day of release.
I adored this film with every fibre of my being, could you possibly tell?
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 03:15 pm (UTC)You know another thing that I loved, loved, loved about the zero-G sequence? It was part of the story. That sounds obvious, but I feel like in most movies, the narrative often screeches to a halt so they can do the Obligatory Action Scene. But in this movie, all the action was integral to what was going on the story - the fact that there was no gravity, the fact that he had to fight the projections, it was all justified by the story itself. GAH. SO MUCH LOVE FOR THIS MOVIE.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 04:58 pm (UTC)And that is such a good point. I hadn't even noticed, I was so distracted by the awesome. Nothing in this movie is just for the sake of it, no random explosions just because they look cool, everything happens because it needs to. Everytime I think my brain might be starting to ease off on the obsessing someone points out something new and fabulous that I hadn't even thought of yet and off I go again. This movie is EATING MY BRAIN! It'll be after my soul next.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-05 11:13 pm (UTC)i just want you to know that i WALLOWED AROUND FLAILING WITH JOY through every single bit of this post, and then it made me teary, and then it made me joyful, and i want to quote the WHOLE THING back at you with hearts around, but mostly i just want to stare at tom hardy's lips. um.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 12:33 am (UTC)And, yeah, those lips. They're fucking distracting!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-06 05:09 pm (UTC)