Inception x 3
Jul. 23rd, 2010 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielThird viewing today. I am...god. I could just watch this movie again and again. There isn't a scene that I get antsy during, there's always something going on I can enjoy. I love it.
And I love having something new to be this excited about.
Personally, I have decided that it no longer matters what is actually going on within the confines of the first frame and the last. I love the journey so much, the destination has become secondary. Is it all a dream? Can we trust that what they think is reality, is in fact reality? Did Cobb fall asleep with Yusef's sedative halfway through and fail to wake up? Is Mal actually real and right and Cobb's the one that's stuck?
Everyone's going to think something different. I've gotten to the point where I'm happy not knowing for sure. I love to discuss it. But I'm content to watch it again and again and appreciate each frame, each nuance. Each suit those GQMFs wear.
Though I will say that this time? I definitely heard the totem topple. At least, I'm sure I did. If that was just my mind playing tricks on me, that's okay.
I've read a lot of reviews accusing Nolan of failing to engage the audience emotionally. I think there's truth to that, however Fischer's catharsis punches me in the gut. On that note, looking at the whole movie as a dream in which Cobb finally reconciles his guilt over his wife's death made that final scene between Cobb and Mal, the one where he finally lets her go, hit me pretty firmly as well. Which then made the final scene particularly sad.
But that's just me.
I also just want to say that I think the accusation that the dreams within the film aren't dream-like enough is interesting. People always talk about their strange dreams, about weird shit that happened in them. Mine are rarely ever strange. I mean, the strangest they tend to get is a celebrity or character appearance. I once had a dream where all that happened was I went to see a movie, sat down in the theatre, looked around at the other audience members, and saw Eddie Izzard and Tobey Maguire sharing a bucket of popcorn. I mean, that's not weird or fucked up at all. That's just two guys I happened to recognize.
The rest of the time, I'm not even an active participant. I regularly have dreams where I know I'm just watching the action, like it's all just a really excellent 3D movie.
So whatever, people. You might have your dreams where you fly off into the sunset while pink elephants dance in tutus and clocks melt across the sidewalk like dropped scoops of ice cream. Nothing that dream-like has ever happened in my dreams.
I didn't mean that to come of as ranty as it did. Whoops?
I want to see it again. I'd like to take my dad to it, though I'm afraid at this point he'd fall asleep and snore through the entire thing. :( (Through no fault of the film's; we're on our second hay cutting and that means a fucked up sleep schedule.) EB is supposed to be over next week, and it's possible I could persuade her.
I have options.
Meanwhile, I have fic.
And I love having something new to be this excited about.
Personally, I have decided that it no longer matters what is actually going on within the confines of the first frame and the last. I love the journey so much, the destination has become secondary. Is it all a dream? Can we trust that what they think is reality, is in fact reality? Did Cobb fall asleep with Yusef's sedative halfway through and fail to wake up? Is Mal actually real and right and Cobb's the one that's stuck?
Everyone's going to think something different. I've gotten to the point where I'm happy not knowing for sure. I love to discuss it. But I'm content to watch it again and again and appreciate each frame, each nuance. Each suit those GQMFs wear.
Though I will say that this time? I definitely heard the totem topple. At least, I'm sure I did. If that was just my mind playing tricks on me, that's okay.
I've read a lot of reviews accusing Nolan of failing to engage the audience emotionally. I think there's truth to that, however Fischer's catharsis punches me in the gut. On that note, looking at the whole movie as a dream in which Cobb finally reconciles his guilt over his wife's death made that final scene between Cobb and Mal, the one where he finally lets her go, hit me pretty firmly as well. Which then made the final scene particularly sad.
But that's just me.
I also just want to say that I think the accusation that the dreams within the film aren't dream-like enough is interesting. People always talk about their strange dreams, about weird shit that happened in them. Mine are rarely ever strange. I mean, the strangest they tend to get is a celebrity or character appearance. I once had a dream where all that happened was I went to see a movie, sat down in the theatre, looked around at the other audience members, and saw Eddie Izzard and Tobey Maguire sharing a bucket of popcorn. I mean, that's not weird or fucked up at all. That's just two guys I happened to recognize.
The rest of the time, I'm not even an active participant. I regularly have dreams where I know I'm just watching the action, like it's all just a really excellent 3D movie.
So whatever, people. You might have your dreams where you fly off into the sunset while pink elephants dance in tutus and clocks melt across the sidewalk like dropped scoops of ice cream. Nothing that dream-like has ever happened in my dreams.
I didn't mean that to come of as ranty as it did. Whoops?
I want to see it again. I'd like to take my dad to it, though I'm afraid at this point he'd fall asleep and snore through the entire thing. :( (Through no fault of the film's; we're on our second hay cutting and that means a fucked up sleep schedule.) EB is supposed to be over next week, and it's possible I could persuade her.
I have options.
Meanwhile, I have fic.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-24 10:28 am (UTC)Funny, I had a conversation with a friend (who has not yet seen Inception) the other day about the emotionality or lack thereof of Nolan's filmmaking. My thesis was that the emotional stuff in Inception especially, but also Nolan's work in general, is mediated so heavily by the high-concept cerebral stuff that it's hard for some people to access -- to get at the heart of the story with Mal, the thinkin' brain has to do so much work that the feelin' brain is like "You know what, you do your thing, I'll be over here." This sort of intense left-brain processing of right-brain material is right in my media consumption sweet spot, and it's very rare, especially with a cerebral framework that is so interesting, so I'm in an absolute froth about this movie.
Edit: Also, while I do have fairly surreal dreams, I wasn't bothered by the ones in the film not being very surreal. They're constructed, and designed to serve specific purposes. They're not supposed to be like normal dreams.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-07-24 10:49 pm (UTC)I think you've really nailed something with that statement. I can't speak for other people, but I know that for me Inception's emotional resonance changes with each viewing. The more you process it, the more you give it a chance work itself out, the greater the emotional payoff is.
Of course, maybe I just got to the end this time and didn't want it to be over. There is something about this film that has taken hold of my mind and will not let go, which I imagine Nolan would appreciate.
They're not supposed to be like normal dreams.
Especially because the target isn't supposed to realize they're dreaming. I just think it's a very silly complaint to make about a film. You have to ground it in a certain amount of reality or else you're going to get the opposite complaint from audience members: that was too friggin' weird.