After a showing of Inception, at least half the audience leaves the theater feeling bewildered. Not that the plot twists are impossible to follow, if you aren’t distracted by your girlfriend and popcorn. But it’s clear that the creators spent $160 million (plus another $100 million in advertising) to make a movie that is intentionally perplexing. The main problem with reviewing Hollywood blockbusters is that they seem irrelevant compared to the films’ looming budgets. Inception, Avatar, Clash of the Titans and other Hollywood blockbusters rely on the adrenalin rush they give to audiences: even if you fail to grasp the point of catharsis in the character development of Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) or if you’ve forgotten exactly which layer of the dream world the heroes are on at the moment, you still get your fair share of thrills and chills from the mass destruction and sublime love.
Amazingly enough, Christopher Nolan’s film actually manages to capture the zeitgeist. Humanity has been keenly aware of the relativity that defines human life ever since the time of Albert Einstein (or perhaps Prince Hamlet). This cultural category has been one of the most popular in the realm hovering between mainstream and underground throughout the second half of the 20th century. The magical realism of Julio Cortazar, Jorge Luis Borges and Gabriel Garcia Marquez was destined to invade the film industry, where it culminated in The Matrix and other movies in which the heroes are forced to constantly question reality (Vanilla Sky is with the film most closely related to Inception in my mind). The relativity of truth has become a part of the mainstream, like post-nuclear dystopias and space odysseys, largely thanks to Nolan. The dream theme is always a winner, even if it is rather hackneyed by now, and Inception offers a profoundly original treatment of the theme – at least by Hollywood standards. The absence of pseudo-Freudian dream interpretations in the film is especially welcome. In short, Inception is a skillful blend of time-tested themes and devices.
Among the stylistic merits of Inception is Nolan’s choice to shoot it on a good old 35 mm camera, though the movie would have grossed even more with a 70 mm. But then, the realist’s ideals take precedence over profit. As for visual effects, they are not conceptually original either. The novelty of the plot makes them striking, however. The characters freely travel through all four dimensions and create their own reality in a dream they all share – all with the hallmarks of your classic American blockbuster: nonstop shootouts that the good guys make it through unscathed, car chases through cities, slow motion action sequences, etc. But to its credit, the film is one of the few action movies in which the effects are not superfluous thrills but are intricately related to the plot dynamics and the underlying idea.
But every proper Hollywood movie needs at least one completely original shtick. Cobb and his team enter the dreamscape with the help of a device in a nickel-plated suitcase they always have with them. The descent into the dream world begins with an intravenous injection. The allusion to heroin addiction is clear. For instance, when the team recruits the architecture student Ariadne to construct dreamscapes, the girl rushes off in horror after her first experience but comes back soon enough to experience new horizons…or something like that. Those who indulge in the drug-induced dreamscapes are no longer able to dream without it. The theme of drug addiction, even if metaphorical, has become a trend of the cinematic mainstream.
Regarding the acting, to be honest, DiCaprio’s performance was no revelation. In fact, the only good thing he did for the movie was that he agreed to star in it and stipulated in his contract that screenplay must be changed to reinforce the central plot line. Both DiCaprio’s performance as Cobb and the movie as a whole gained from the change: the screenplay became good theater with added drama. For his part, the actor Ken Watanabe delivers a fine performance as the businessman Saito who walks the line between a Europeanized gentleman with a sparkling sense of humor and a ferocious samurai. Numerous close-ups, even in action scenes, give him ample opportunities to demonstrate his versatile gifts, which are well suited to the motley emotional coloring of the plot. The refined, somewhat aloof Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur, and Ellen Page, who lacks expressive force as Ariadne, deserve only passing mention. Cillian Murphy’s performance as Robert Fischer, the target of the team’s dream heist, is noteworthy. Murphy’s psychotic mimicry is second only to Steve Buscemi’s in expressive power.
Another important element in Hollywood blockbusters is music. I would not mention it except that Hans Zimmer, a master of the sweeping Hollywood soundtrack, scored Inception. I assumed that after the movie I would be humming the main theme for the rest of the day, but, believe it or not, I could hardly remember any music from the film except for the legendary “Non, je ne regrette rien.” The incidental music of the dream sequences is so far inferior to the images that it accompanies that one feels pity for this legendary composer who made generations of children cry over the adventures of a lion cub. A memorable soundtrack is always helpful in a blockbuster. That was the case with Pirates of the Caribbean. Its uplifting and heroic soundtrack took on a life of its own, and it will certainly outlive Jack Sparrow. The Inception soundtrack has much more modest ambitions. But this is its greatest merit. It heightens the film’s enigmatic atmosphere and affects the subconscious, which is the movie’s main character. Zimmer was right to opt for electronic instruments over the immortal symphony orchestra, as they better convey the abstraction and relativity in the illusory worlds of Inception.
Of course, I have to say a few words about the director, even though reviewing Inception is as pointless as reviewing yesterday’s hamburger. Still, it would be unjust to neglect Christopher Nolan’s contribution. He wrote the screenplay himself, a screenplay that stands out among the clichéd romantic comedies and action-packed moneymakers, cooked up by uneducated people from of the pages of myths and history. Nolan is not after technical innovation, and he regards the circular plot with an open ending as the ideal composition. Is he to blame for his preferences? When all is said and done, Nolan has set a standard, and I wonder how many similar “Inceptions” will be released in the next five years.
By Grigory Taki
