Once in a while, you come home from a movie and you know that you’ve just experienced something great. Other times, you come home and you think you experienced something great, but it may have just been a dream. My metaphysical jury is still out on the wonders of INCEPTION.
It’s kind of like Nancy Drew. Nancy Drew? What on earth does Nancy Drew have to do with the movie, INCEPTION? you may ask. Allow me to explain.
Years ago, a little girl who was supposed to be sleeping read Nancy Drew books under her covers by the illumination of a flickering flashlight. That little girl would read until she could no longer hold open her faltering eyelids, then, in the midst of the vicarious sleuthing, she’d drift off to sleep. In her dreams, the mysteries would always go in directions far more interesting to that little girl than the imaginations of the imaginary Carolyn Keene. Before long, that girl quit reading Nancy Drew, because the plotlines became disappointing.
Likewise, the blockbuster summer film INCEPTION is built upon a fun idea that provides a framework for some pretty spectacular special effects, but I don’t think the result is as groundbreakingly original or heart-stopping as some reviewers would have you believe. As usual, hype kills. You may enjoy this film more if you go in with lower expectations, so allow me to lower them for you. Before you dub INCEPTION “the greatest film of the decade” or an “instant classic” (as some online reviewers have done), step back, take a deep breath, and make sure someone hasn’t just hacked into your mind, planting a version of a film that doesn’t even exist.
Some people are lauding the “depth” of this
story. So... we go to a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream. Does that make this a psychologically deep and original story? I think I saw that same scenario played out by Garth in an old SNL “Wayne’s World” sketch. Just as I can dig a deep hole and still come across nothing but dirt, depth for the sake of depth doesn’t represent a wealth of content. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good dream movie and I don’t think INCEPTION was bad. I just think it had flaws, and I question whether those who so wholeheartedly (to the point of near worship) ignore those flaws may have had their minds hacked into and had ideas planted which have taken over like a virus.
If you are in love with the movie, don’t let me ruin your romance. Our reactions to films, after all, are subjective. We all bring our own projections with us into the theater, and those projections can make a single story different to different people. Moreover, we may not even be talking about the same movie. What is reality anyway? Maybe I only exist in your dream, or you in mine...
Here’s what is certain: I think I saw INCEPTION last night, but it may have just been the idea that my daughter put in my mind when she said I should go see it... What if there is no such movie, and technology has grown to the point where you can merely suggest that there is a film and people will imagine that they have seen it? Making seed-planting trailers might be cheaper than actually completing a film.
I think the brilliance of inception is not the singularity of the concept (since the idea isn't necessarily original), but the fact that Nolan was so successful in integrating those worlds within worlds to such a believable degree. It's unfortunate that the haunting dead wife theme recurs so quickly after Shutter Island, but that's just crappy timing. On it's own, Inception easily stands.
ReplyDeleteDorsey! How are ya?
ReplyDeleteWow, I need to get better about checking my blog comments... so, two months later, I finally notice that someone read (and commented on) my babbling.
I didn't mean to give the impression that I didn't like Inception. In fact, when I had a free movie pass that was about to expire, I went back & saw Inception again. It is a good film (unlike Avatar--you're not gonna get me to budge on that over-rated thing).
The above was really more just me amusing myself with what I thought was "a funny" (implanting the idea in the minds of the masses that they had seen a film rather than actually making it... would that be cheaper??? Making movies is e x p e n s i v e.)
...that and the whole sour grapes/envy thing that is sometimes easy for immature people like me to fall into (someone with a bigger budget than me says mean things about my film, so I go and pick on bigger budget films because they should be exponentially that much better than my feeble attempts).
BTW, you know how many filmmakers it takes to screw in a light bulb?
101 (one to actually screw in the light bulb, and 100 to say "I could have done that better.")
I haven't seen Shutter Island. It's on my mile-long to-watch list.
Wooo Hooo! I finally got around to seeing Shutter Island, and I must say: Wow, that really is crazy timing--and casting--those two films being released in such close proximity!
ReplyDeleteOoops, I started rambling about it here, but then realized that it might be better to write a blog about it in the present (2011), instead of burying fresh musings in the past.
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SEE YOU IN 2011 :)