After a long dark period of avoiding the summer blockbusters, I decided Christopher Nolan's "Inception" was intriguing enough to venture out to the local cinema. After a few false starts I settled into my crooked seat at the "vintage" theater that is located 1 kilometer from my home. I was skeptical of the psychological action flick but I figured at the very least I could satiate myself gazing at the ever so steamy Joseph Gordon Levitt (droooooools).
I guess my verdict on the flick would be that it was a very good action movie but only a half decent psycho drama. I found the dreamscapes within which 90 percent of the film takes place to be entirely too sturdy. Anyone who has ever dreamed before can vouch that dreams tend to have a frustratingly evasive and transient nature. I was expecting something a little more along the lines of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" with tumbling through doors and coming out windows. I did like the continual references to what film dorks like to call "Mise en Abyme" which refers to a dream within a dream but is physically the act of looking into a mirror reflected in another mirror, both the literal and metaphoric interpretations take place in the film. As the daughter of an architect I appreciated the elaboration on the psychological work that goes into design and the film kept invoking memories of the mindfuck Escher pictures my parents had all over the house.
Despite these minor references to major concepts, the film read like a cliff notes version of a Psych 101 textbook. Essentially it doesn't take a genius to figure out that guilt and remorse are at the bottom of everything. You also get a brief lesson in Philosophy 101 too, What's "real" anyway?! Deep stuff...
Moving right along
There was some really awesome action scenes. Everyone loves a good detailed slow-mo explosion and this film had those in spades. There was some anti-gravity battles and even a scene that was painfully "Call Of Duty". Oh, and TONS of shoot outs. I couldn't easily detect any C.G and I have eyes like a HAWK so that's saying something.
I didn't feel like this was DiCaprio's best work, he was just good. Joseph Gordon Levitt was smoldering, stylish and enjoyable as usual. It was nice to see Ellen Page not play a snide teenager but man I wish she would grow some hips, she is NOT convincing as a University student. Marion Cotillard is insanely stunning and it tickled me that throughout the film they play "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" by Edith Piaff, who she won an Oscar for portraying in "La Vie En Rose". I don't think it was an accident that the translation of the song is "No, I Regret Nothing".
I believe I will finish this post with a few of my favorite dream films.
