Inception. Can you say "Suspension of Disbelief?" Sit down, shut up, put your thinking cap on and just go for the ride! Christopher Nolan (of Memento fame - if you haven't seen THAT one, you must!) wrote the script exploring the multi-layered realms of dreams, taking us through stunning set design, spellbinding zero-gravity choreography, and mind-blowing "logic." And yet, I love a larger-than-life summer blockbuster movie that still comes down to a very small story of the relationship between two people, which this does. It is still about a man and a woman, a father and a son, a man and his demons of obsession, guilt, redemption. Leo diCaprio's character (similar to his in Shutter Island) manages to bring humanity to a sci-fi mind-bender.
Nolan has long been intrigued by the unlimited worlds which exist in our night minds. A worthy parallel to the world of movie-making. He says, "I view this film first and foremost as a large-scale thrill ride." It is. And one I look forward to seeing again.
P.S. I don't think I've ever used so many hyphenated phrases in my life!
You've written an enticing review, Valerie! I will indeed suspend my disbelief and go and see this flick. Who woudda guessed that EM Forster would coin such a useful phrase in that boring treatise Aspects of the Novel?
ReplyDeleteTruly an original. I love a movie that grabs you by the shoulders and forces you to pay attention. Sometimes, especially in Summer blockbusters, the plot gets muddled behind the flashes and booms. This time, though, despite how impressive those special effects were, it's the story that really stands out.
ReplyDeleteNow ya got me - enlighten, please. I feel woefully ignorant!
ReplyDeleteHahahah... E.M.Forster wrote Aspects of the Novel....a treatise on writing we had to read. In the book, he used the phrase "willful suspension of disbelief" as a requirement for every reader of a novel. I believe he coined the expression. It's a rare moment that I get to enlighten my colleague, for you most often enlighten me!
ReplyDeleteCool. I love finding out the origin of a favorite concept/phrase. It's been such an imbedded term in this literature student's/teacher's vernacular.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thanks for your informative comments on Inception, Valerie. I agree that the best parts of the film were the human stories, with themes of guilt, family, and duty. I also found the effects mind-blowing.
ReplyDeleteYet I cannot say I liked the film. Sure, there were dreams in dreams, and there were Leo, Marion, and Ellen presenting their attractive faces...and sometimes acting OK. Uh, nice analogy too, having "projections" and the "subconscious" represented by guys with machine guns intent on destroying the dream. But does all the shooting and noise really make sense? Does the damn film make sense?
Somehow I found the work pretentious. Unlike the Matrix, which fit beautifully together once we understood the "worlds", I don't this film can ever make the pieces fit so nicely. It seems disjointed, ephemeral, all-too-willing to present a hodge-podge of concepts and "throw" them out there. I am reminded of kids blindfolded trying to hit a pinata: they swing freely, most often miss the target, and eventually scream with delight when the candies fall out. Nolan swings mightily, but somehow I never taste the sweetness of resolution.
Which is to say: I simply cannot see how so much shooting, dreamscapes embodied by buildings, and floating bodies really tell us much about life...or really enlighten us in any significant way. I want to learn from a film...but what did this film really teach us?
With the AZ Republic giving the flick 5 stars, and the NYT reviewers going crazy, I feel like a heretic who might get burnt at the stake. Yet, in truth, I might prefer a few hours of torture over seeing the mismanaged misfire called Inception a second time.
Back to you, film buddy, to enlighten your all-too-weary colleague.
It's fun when we agree, and even more fun when we disagree, for therein lies further thinking. I posted quickly on Inception, then thought later that my criticism would be in its need for editing. It was too long. I enjoyed the snow setting but that battle went on too long. I also wish we knew the source for other people's elements, besides Cobb's. For example, why did the architect put us in a snow setting?
ReplyDeleteHere's what I got from the film. First, fun entertainment. Just had a blast watching it. But I, too, must gain some lingering mental thread for a movie to be more worth it. I am a serious dreamer. I have long epics, in color, that stay with me for days, that I've gotten darn good at interpreting (thanks to Carl Jung), and two have stayed with me for years, influencing my life! I have lucid dreams, where I reach a point where I know I am dreaming and begin to control the dream. I have awakened from a dream which I was enjoying and deliberately returned to sleep and the dream. I have a certain recurring theme and setting in a dream that results in my bolting out of bed and doing something in response(generally when I am most stressed).
I've been thinking more about dreams since this film. What do I let in? What comes out? How can I use this?
Also, the power of thought and suggestion and letting the positive in. Also, the subtle, but deep and long-term effects we have on others' thinking. And where our guilt should take us in another's actions - the grave responsibility in manipulating others. And the major ramifications of the tiniest words between parent and child, husband and wife.
Like one mention in the dream, I have sometimes had a fleeting thought: what if it is in dreams where we are most"awake?"
One last thought: We already understand, I think, the profound power in planting the tiniest seed of thought in another, especially as teachers. Frankly, I would have been more fascinated to turn the plot in the direction of Cobb's actual job of EXTRACTING another's dreams or thoughts. A far more frightening concept. In other words, was it necessary for five people to go into complex dreams in order to plant a suggestion in the son's mind? The original Mission Impossible used to do it in daylight all the time!
O.K., enough for now. It's only 6:30 a.m.!