Oh, kid, I do believe that our dreams are wrong

[sovay]

Inception (2010) is an incredibly intelligent film. I loved its play with genres, with film and surrealism, with ghosts, and I loved the one sequence straight out of Cocteau's Orphée (1949).

I am never seeing another film at a Jordan's IMAX.

Comments

[ap-aelfwine.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed the film. I might have to give it a look, myself.

Sounds as if the IMAX experience was bad--I'm sorry to hear of that.

[sovay]

Sounds as if the IMAX experience was bad--I'm sorry to hear of that.

It was one of the more physically excruciating experiences I have ever volunteered myself for; I did not know it would be. (The Omni Theater at the Museum of Science? I get along fine with that! This . . . was not the same sort of thing.) Fortunately, the world of film is not limited to Jordan's Furniture.

[selidor]

Ok, that's it, now I'm seeing the film and not waiting until it gets to film club (has decent screen, below-average sound). Thank you!

[sovay]

Ok, that's it, now I'm seeing the film and not waiting until it gets to film club (has decent screen, below-average sound). Thank you!

Welcome!

[time-shark.livejournal.com]

I love how at its heart it's a straightforward action/heist film, but it's so meta that it, well, doesn't just turn the formula on its head, it makes it do somersaults...

[sovay]

I love how at its heart it's a straightforward action/heist film, but it's so meta that it, well, doesn't just turn the formula on its head, it makes it do somersaults...

I think its story is a heist film with flickers of film noir, down to the one last job and the mysterious past that threatens everyone, but I think it's about something quite different. Which I loved.

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

Out of curiosity, which scene is taken from Cocteau? I saw Inception but haven't seen that Cocteau film so now I'm all curious!

[sovay]

I saw Inception but haven't seen that Cocteau film so now I'm all curious!

There were actually several moments in Inception which made me think of Orphée, like Ariadne's manipulation of mirrors the first time she dreams with Cobb, but the real shout-out is the sequence with Arthur in the hotel as the laws of gravity suddenly cease to apply. You'll recognize its original when you see it.

[ericmvan.livejournal.com]

Nolan is to film what Gene Wolfe is to the sf novel -- just ferocious intelligence and the mastery of puzzlebox constructions that have philosophical and emotional depth.

It's interesting to see strong chunks of DNA from Memento, The Prestige, and the two Batman movies in this one.

[sovay]

Nolan is to film what Gene Wolfe is to the sf novel -- just ferocious intelligence and the mastery of puzzlebox constructions that have philosophical and emotional depth.

If you called a band the Hypnic Jerks now, people would get it.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it rather thoroughly as well, for many of the reasons you state (though not because of Orphée, which I haven't seen, and now must), but off and on as I watched I asked, Is it profound? Is any of this even remotely profound? And it seemed to me that the one place where perhaps it was, or was trying to be in a way that had an honest chance of success -- the placing of the spinning top in the safe at the center of her being, and the whole storytelling complex intended to support that moment and arising from it -- is also the one place where the film collapses. It really really does not stand up to close analysis. The only aspect of the film that effected me emotionally also happens to be the only part of the film that doesn't work, and since that one moment is the pivot point for the film as a whole, it means the whole film collapses too. I may be wrong about this, but I don't think so; I will need to see the film again to be sure.

[sovay]

And it seemed to me that the one place where perhaps it was, or was trying to be in a way that had an honest chance of success -- the placing of the spinning top in the safe at the center of her being, and the whole storytelling complex intended to support that moment and arising from it -- is also the one place where the film collapses. It really really does not stand up to close analysis.

How so? I agree that Mal's totem is integral to the story, but I'm not sure I would have called that one gesture its emotional heart; and I did not feel that the film collapsed there or elsewhere.

[ericmvan.livejournal.com]

I think the film is profound, but it is mostly about the nature of film narrative, and I think its equation of film narrative to shared lucid dreaming is just plain correct and insightful.

As with every Nolan film, it becomes much more emotional once you understand (or, in this case, think you understand) what is going on. Dom Cobb's plight may be completely not what we think it is, and that adds much poignancy.

It just occurs to me now that there are strong thematic similarities to Engine Summer, but the latter is about the deep purpose of narrative art while this is more about its limitations, about the gap between narrative art and reality and the ultimate insularity of the narrative artist. But it really is ferociously brilliant about that.