Christopher Nolan's Inception

[Hyde]

Damn you guys have made me wanna re-watch this now

 

[Lord]

I have to agree 1,000%.

There's a weird mixture of Kubrick, Terrence Malick, and maybe even some David Lynch thrown into Inception. It's hard to explain, but I feel the presence of all three men there. And it's an incredibly unsettling movie, without a doubt. For those who don't see that, they have to really be in the movie. I always try to explain this and people don't understand - what I mean is, watching a movie isn't the same as really watching a movie, like really experiencing it.

If you're not watching a Horror movie, if you're not leaning forward and really watching that teenage girl walk down the hallway in her bare feet while the wooden floor boards are creaking under her, you're not going to be scared. You can watch her do that, but you have to be thinking about it, you have to be immersed in it, you have to imagine that you're this poor little 16 year old who is defenseless. Otherwise, you're just watching a movie. You need to have the attention span for movies like this, or else you're incredibly bored out of your mind by some dumb teenager walking around for five minutes.

This is off topic, but I saw Man of Steel with a buddy of mine. He totally wasn't "into" it, because he was looking at the various people getting up from their seats to go to the bathroom, he was checking his phone for a text, he was rustling around in his seat, he himself got up to go to the bathroom at one point. And then the movie was over, we got up from our seats and I asked, "What did you think?", and he gave me that classic, all-too-familiar, Internet-critic response: "The action was too long and big, and the fight scene at the end was too long and overblown," etc. Yes, maybe for you it was, but speak for yourself. If you were watching the movie, if you were "in" it, if you were invested in these characters like I was, then you would've felt Movie Magic. I caught the fever of "Movie Magic" as early as the first 15 minutes with the Krypton opening. It hearkened back to seeing Jurassic Park for the first time for me - hell, even Star Wars. There could've literally been a thousand clones of Jessica Biel in their underwear dancing on poles in the movie theater, and my eyes would've still been glued to that damn screen.

Back on point. I think something that makes Inception horroresque and disturbing to me is the idea that you can't trust your own judgment - that you can't even trust yourself. That your own eyes might be playing tricks on you, that everything around you might be a mirage, and you don't know what reality is anymore. Jacob's Ladder does this. And, obviously, Memento does this. Memento is another one of those films that really creeps me out, that really makes me think long and hard about things.

Another element is Hans Zimmer's score for Inception. There's something so unusual about it, so earthly and yet so alien. It's like a combination of techno and electronica one minute, and then another minute it's like being on a beach watching the waves wash up on shore. It's like being an astronaut in space, yet being in a cave with cavemen. And this is all happening simultaneously in the same tracks. I have no clue how else to explain that or how to elaborate on it.

Another thing that kind of floored me and really made me disoriented was the scene when they're all in the empty warehouse and Cobb is explaining Mal's story to Ariadne. There was just this instant realization that hit me, like, "Wow, this is a flashback, told inside a dream in a warehouse, and they're all sitting on an airplane right now." There's just something so odd about it, it kind of makes me uncomfortable. The Prestige did that for me too with the journals.

I have a million other things I could babble about, but bottom line, I think this is one of the most profound films ever made, no question. I know there's a "cool" backlash against it on the Internet now, but whatever. I totally put Nolan up there with Kubrick without a doubt.

Well, i was into Transformers 3, and i enjoyed it, i won't defend that it was a good movie.

 

[Anita18]

Damn you guys have made me wanna re-watch this now

You guys made me pull out the drawing I did about Inception back in class years ago.

What we perceive is a construction by our own mind, and it's up to us to decide what limitations we have.

Well, i was into Transformers 3, and i enjoyed it, i won't defend that it was a good movie.

There is a difference between enjoying a movie in the moment, and being able to appreciate it later, for sure.

I felt the same about (500) Days of Summer. I enjoyed it and it was a good movie, but it didn't stick with me. Nobody learned anything particularly revelatory. One thing Nolan does VERY well is give you an ending that punches you in the gut. You can't easily forget that.

 

[Anita18]

Bumping this up because I'm shocked this was never posted, even in the old pre-Thread Manager threads.

People at Google Inception, because back in December 2011, they invited author Kyle Johnson to talk about Inception and Philosophy, at Google HQ.



I personally disagree with his returning-to-previous-dream-level-from-limbo theory (the 3 levels above collapsed with the synchronized kick and the dreamers of those levels are gone, so there's nothing to return to), but he has a lot of really interesting points, especially about the behavior of Cobb's totem relative to everyone else's.

I still find it that everyone is so invested in the "reality" of the ending, when it's a fictional story to begin with.

 

[dark_b]

ohhh it was posted. and its a good video. i will watch it again.

 

[Anita18]

ohhh it was posted. and its a good video. i will watch it again.

Well then SHH advanced search has failed me.

Yeah, it's pretty cool, might as well watch it again if you have before.

 

[craigdbfan]

Never saw this. Thank you so much for posting this Anita. Watching it right now.

It fits perfect with the discussion we were all having in the previous page.

 

[Anita18]

It's kind of funny, because I've been on an Inception blitz lately as well. I'm always reminded of it, when I'm faced with a situation that I wish was not real. That, to me, three years later, is what Inception really means - facing your guilt or regrets and accepting them as your reality, acknowledge that you have to escape your own mental prison, then face life again ready to truly live.

It's late and I'm blabbering, but last week I got a call about one of my design clients. His 15-year-old son was killed the week before, and I was asked to design the program for the memorial. I couldn't but wonder how my client was feeling right now (and by extension, the entire family) - did he manage to tell his son he loved him before the end? Did he regret not doing so enough? And above all, I wondered if he wished he could wake up from this nightmare. Everyone probably did. But you can't escape this reality. You can escape to a dream reality of course, where horrible things don't happen and all your loved ones are still with you, but all you're doing is trapping yourself within your own mind.

I just watched the ending again, and even though they seem hokey, the "I'm an old man now....filled with regret, waiting to die alone..." "Come back so we can be young men together again" lines just hit me really hard. Escape from your own mental prison, where you'd be doomed to regret forever. Escape it so you can live.

 

[craigdbfan]

It's kind of funny, because I've been on an Inception blitz lately as well. I'm always reminded of it, when I'm faced with a situation that I wish was not real. That, to me, three years later, is what Inception really means - facing your guilt or regrets and accepting them as your reality, acknowledge that you have to escape your own mental prison, then face life again ready to truly live.

It's late and I'm blabbering, but last week I got a call about one of my design clients. His 15-year-old son was killed the week before, and I was asked to design the program for the memorial. I couldn't but wonder how my client was feeling right now (and by extension, the entire family) - did he manage to tell his son he loved him before the end? Did he regret not doing so enough? And above all, I wondered if he wished he could wake up from this nightmare. Everyone probably did. But you can't escape this reality. You can escape to a dream reality of course, where horrible things don't happen and all your loved ones are still with you, but all you're doing is trapping yourself within your own mind.

I just watched the ending again, and even though they seem hokey, the "I'm an old man now....filled with regret, waiting to die alone..." "Come back so we can be young men together again" lines just hit me really hard. Escape from your own mental prison, where you'd be doomed to regret forever. Escape it so you can live.

Beautifully said.

You're completely right about that message. I find myself doing that all the time. Creating a make shift reality to counter act what's going on in your real life and not facing reality for what it is.

 

[DA_Champion]

This was a magnificent movie on all counts.

One scene that stands out to me years later is when they see all the old people hooked up to dream machines in a basement. I thought that was a clever bit of world building, because that would totally happen.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

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[TheNextNolan22]

Since this thread got bumped, I would like to say this might be my favorite film of all time. It's definitely the film that has inspired me to become a filmmaker in the future.

 

[Schlosser85]

I've been a bit obsessed with Inception lately.

 

[Schlosser85]

It's kind of funny, because I've been on an Inception blitz lately as well. I'm always reminded of it, when I'm faced with a situation that I wish was not real. That, to me, three years later, is what Inception really means - facing your guilt or regrets and accepting them as your reality, acknowledge that you have to escape your own mental prison, then face life again ready to truly live.

It's late and I'm blabbering, but last week I got a call about one of my design clients. His 15-year-old son was killed the week before, and I was asked to design the program for the memorial. I couldn't but wonder how my client was feeling right now (and by extension, the entire family) - did he manage to tell his son he loved him before the end? Did he regret not doing so enough? And above all, I wondered if he wished he could wake up from this nightmare. Everyone probably did. But you can't escape this reality. You can escape to a dream reality of course, where horrible things don't happen and all your loved ones are still with you, but all you're doing is trapping yourself within your own mind.

I just watched the ending again, and even though they seem hokey, the "I'm an old man now....filled with regret, waiting to die alone..." "Come back so we can be young men together again" lines just hit me really hard. Escape from your own mental prison, where you'd be doomed to regret forever. Escape it so you can live.

There are two moments in Inception that get to me, emotionally.

1) When Projection Mal says the line about them growing old together, and Cobb says "but we did", followed by the quick shot of their old selves walking through their dream city holding hands.

2) When Fischer talks to the projection of his father, and says "I know you were disappointed that I couldn't be you", and his father "no...I was disappointed that you tried", and then the look on Cillian Murphy's face.

Christopher Nolan said Cobb doesn't look at his top at the end because he's where he wants to be and doesn't care anymore if he's dreaming or in reality, because he's finally happy and whole again. It's a little of the same with Fischer. The team manipulates him into the encounter with the projection of his father, but Eames isn't forging the dad, no one really puts the words into the dad's mouth...except Fischer's own subconscious. They led him toward that conclusion, but at the end Fischer fills it out himself, because under all his resentment, deep down he wanted to believe his dad loved him. And even if it's just a projection and there's no way to know if Fischer Sr. really felt that way, I think, in a sense, Fischer's emotions make it real, like Cobb's emotions about Mal made her still real in a way even after she wasn't, and how the end is "real" whether it's technically real or not, because Cobb is with his children, and that's all that matters to him anymore.

 

[MrMaooz]

I believe that the ending was real because he didn't have his ring.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

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[TheNextNolan22]

It's been discussed for almost 4 years now

 

[Whiskey Tango]

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[Schlosser85]

One thing I definitely appreciate more on repeat viewings is the all-around ensemble acting.

I thought DiCaprio, Cotillard, and Cillian Murphy were especially good the first viewing in the theater, but the others kind of got overshadowed by the intricacies of the plot.

But once you've absorbed all the plot complexities and have enough of a handle on the plot that you can notice other details, every single person in this movie brought their A game, especially considering some of their roles are plot devices for exposition (Ellen Page) or spend a lot of their screentime spouting off swaths of information.

 

[Anita18]

Has that been widely known and discussed for awhile now? I've only seen the film twice and never partaken in much discussion about it, thus my interest in the video.

I need to buy it, I have all of Nolan's other movies, just never gotten around to purchasing this one.

....yes?

One thing I definitely appreciate more on repeat viewings is the all-around ensemble acting.

I thought DiCaprio, Cotillard, and Cillian Murphy were especially good the first viewing in the theater, but the others kind of got overshadowed by the intricacies of the plot.

But once you've absorbed all the plot complexities and have enough of a handle on the plot that you can notice other details, every single person in this movie brought their A game.

It's definitely not easy when most of your dialogue is explaining what's going on.

 

[Schlosser85]

It's definitely not easy when most of your dialogue is explaining what's going on.

Ellen Page especially has a thankless role that she makes the most she can out of. Her purpose is literally to ask tons of questions so Nolan can explain things to the audience, and provide a sounding board for Cobb to reveal his tragic backstory to.

Yet, somehow, she manages to almost make Ariadne feel like a person. So do JGL and Hardy.

 

[Anita18]

Ellen Page especially has a thankless role that she makes the most she can out of. Her purpose is literally to ask tons of questions so Nolan can explain things to the audience, and provide a sounding board for Cobb to reveal his tragic backstory to.

Yup!

I mean, it helps that she has some pretty awesome ideas of her own, but yeah. That's what she is - a stand-in for the audience.

 

[Schlosser85]

Arthur and Eames both feel like pretty distinct individuals, which speaks well of JGL and Hardy, considering they have basically no character development, we don't know anything about them from beginning to end except the most basic possible things like their skill sets, and two-thirds of their dialogue is rattling off exposition and explanations of what's happening.

Hardy puts more detail into Eames than plenty of actors put into leading roles. And Arthur is very different from most JGL characters. Both are performances I definitely gain more appreciation for in repeat viewings. They're both doing a lot with a little.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

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[craigdbfan]

Arthur and Eames both feel like pretty distinct individuals, which speaks well of JGL and Hardy, considering they have basically no character development, we don't know anything about them from beginning to end except the most basic possible things like their skill sets, and two-thirds of their dialogue is rattling off exposition and explanations of what's happening.

Hardy puts more detail into Eames than plenty of actors put into leading roles. And Arthur is very different from most JGL characters. Both are performances I definitely gain more appreciation for in repeat viewings. They're both doing a lot with a little.

I would definitely recommend for you to watch this video Anita posted of a gentlemen speaking at Google HQ about the film. I remember I had scoured the internet for as many interpretations as possible but this guy does an incredibly good job at tying things together.

Bumping this up because I'm shocked this was never posted, even in the old pre-Thread Manager threads.

People at Google Inception, because back in December 2011, they invited author Kyle Johnson to talk about Inception and Philosophy, at Google HQ.



I personally disagree with his returning-to-previous-dream-level-from-limbo theory (the 3 levels above collapsed with the synchronized kick and the dreamers of those levels are gone, so there's nothing to return to), but he has a lot of really interesting points, especially about the behavior of Cobb's totem relative to everyone else's.

I still find it that everyone is so invested in the "reality" of the ending, when it's a fictional story to begin with.