Five Things
Aug. 20th, 2010 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annundrielThe other day, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rivier asked me three Top Fives. Two of them got kind of unwieldy, so I'm making a post.
Five scenes or moments in Inception that are significant to you (preferably, not the ones everyone mentions - or at least your take on why they matter).
I saw Inception for the sixth time last night (in a nice symmetrical kind of way - first time saw it opening day, last time saw it final night in ML) and I tried to keep this question in mind. Two of these, #1 and #5, weren't on the list before.
01. Mal's first line. "If I jumped, would I survive?"
It's a line that means so little when you haven't seen the rest of the film, but means everything once you have.
02. The scene in Yusuf’s basement, particularly the old man’s line. “Their dream has become their reality. Who are you to say otherwise?”
I spent at least half of my first viewing thinking that it was Cobb who was in fact stuck inside his own head and Mal was actually the real Mal attempting to get him to let go and wake up, and this scene was partly what stuck that idea in my head to begin with. I’ve since moved past that interpretation, but this scene still always feels important to me, pivotal in some way. I think that’s because it resonates with the end of the film and could just as easily be Christopher Nolan telling us, the audience, that dream, reality…it doesn’t matter. The characters’ reality is their reality, and we don’t get to decide differently. In the end, Cobb has decided something for himself. He's found some measure of resolution. Who are we to decide how significant that resolution is just because it may not take place in reality?
03. “Eames, I am impressed.” “Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated, Arthur, thank you.”
I sort of want everyone in the movie to have a giant dream orgy, but Arthur/Eames is a pairing that I’m attracted to above all else. It was probably Eames' “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling" that launched a thousand fics, as that was in the trailer. I never saw the full trailer, so I didn’t even know Eames existed until they introduced him and it was the first interaction between him and Arthur—implying a previous relationship full of…something—that got my attention. Followed by Eames delighting in Arthur falling over a lot. Actually, let’s combine the first interaction with their “specificity” exchange. That is maybe my favorite part. It comes off as very...real. Which I'm aware is probably kind of a dumb thing to say.
Basically, I think Arthur and Eames and their interaction are a shining spot of levity, slash goggles or no.
04. The rotating hallway fight scene.
This is probably going to be on everyone's list and isn't really that significant. But it's REALLY FUCKING COOL. And done the old fashioned way with cameras and rotating sets and not green screen and I think that's marvelous in this day and age where everyone is shitting themselves over 3D (okay, maybe not 3D) and things like Avatar (which I have not seen nor have much desire to see). It's proof that you don't need all that seriously fancy-schmany stuff to do something visually interesting on film.
05. Cobb in the hotel room, spinning the top and waiting with his gun.
The first time you see this scene, you think, "This is a man ready to kill himself." You don't really know why, though you can guess it might have something to do with reality, and you're not sure what part the top plays, but you can see he's ready to do it. Watching it this last time, I thought it was interesting because it's such a 180 from the final scene with the top. Here you have Cobb completely intent on it, ready to put a bullet through his brain if he doesn't like the result. There, he no longer cares what it does because he's found his resolution.
It also hit me that there might almost be hope there for Cobb with his gun in his hand. He doesn't know what reality is anymore, and he's ready to throw everything around him away on the possibility that he'll wake up to something better. Like maybe when the top falls, he's a little disappointed that, no, this is reality and Mal is gone.
Honorable mention: The last four or so minutes of the film. I love it because it’s the director playing with us, just a little, and very probably delighting in it. I love it for the music (I’ve listened to the track that plays over it more than anything else since I saw the film opening day). I love that it doesn’t really matter if we know what the real answer is. I love that it makes people who need a straight answer crazy.
I would seriously watch the whole movie, all two and a half hours of it, just for those last few minutes. It hits me in such a perfect emotional spot. I love it.
Luckily, I love the rest of the movie, too.
*
Your Five Hottest Human Beings - with illustrations preferably
You seriously have no idea how difficult this was.
01. Gene Kelly. He can sing and danceand fill out his pants. I pretty much cannot watch him in anything without going all swoony.
No pictures, but a link to "You Were Meant for Me" from Singin' in the Rain. I used to watch the film at my grandma's when I was little and would get home from school before my mom.
02. Alexander Skarsgard. As cracktastic and messed up as True Blood gets, I'll probably stick with it for him.
03. Claudia Black. I loooooove her.
04. Tom Hardy. Most recent addition. His voice. His mouth.
05. I debated about this for a while, but eventually I had to admit that, yes, Misha Collins has to be on this list. All of the dirty things he makes me want to write? Yeah. Have to include him.
rivier asked me three Top Fives. Two of them got kind of unwieldy, so I'm making a post.Five scenes or moments in Inception that are significant to you (preferably, not the ones everyone mentions - or at least your take on why they matter).
I saw Inception for the sixth time last night (in a nice symmetrical kind of way - first time saw it opening day, last time saw it final night in ML) and I tried to keep this question in mind. Two of these, #1 and #5, weren't on the list before.
01. Mal's first line. "If I jumped, would I survive?"
It's a line that means so little when you haven't seen the rest of the film, but means everything once you have.
02. The scene in Yusuf’s basement, particularly the old man’s line. “Their dream has become their reality. Who are you to say otherwise?”
I spent at least half of my first viewing thinking that it was Cobb who was in fact stuck inside his own head and Mal was actually the real Mal attempting to get him to let go and wake up, and this scene was partly what stuck that idea in my head to begin with. I’ve since moved past that interpretation, but this scene still always feels important to me, pivotal in some way. I think that’s because it resonates with the end of the film and could just as easily be Christopher Nolan telling us, the audience, that dream, reality…it doesn’t matter. The characters’ reality is their reality, and we don’t get to decide differently. In the end, Cobb has decided something for himself. He's found some measure of resolution. Who are we to decide how significant that resolution is just because it may not take place in reality?
03. “Eames, I am impressed.” “Your condescension, as always, is much appreciated, Arthur, thank you.”
I sort of want everyone in the movie to have a giant dream orgy, but Arthur/Eames is a pairing that I’m attracted to above all else. It was probably Eames' “You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling" that launched a thousand fics, as that was in the trailer. I never saw the full trailer, so I didn’t even know Eames existed until they introduced him and it was the first interaction between him and Arthur—implying a previous relationship full of…something—that got my attention. Followed by Eames delighting in Arthur falling over a lot. Actually, let’s combine the first interaction with their “specificity” exchange. That is maybe my favorite part. It comes off as very...real. Which I'm aware is probably kind of a dumb thing to say.
Basically, I think Arthur and Eames and their interaction are a shining spot of levity, slash goggles or no.
04. The rotating hallway fight scene.
This is probably going to be on everyone's list and isn't really that significant. But it's REALLY FUCKING COOL. And done the old fashioned way with cameras and rotating sets and not green screen and I think that's marvelous in this day and age where everyone is shitting themselves over 3D (okay, maybe not 3D) and things like Avatar (which I have not seen nor have much desire to see). It's proof that you don't need all that seriously fancy-schmany stuff to do something visually interesting on film.
05. Cobb in the hotel room, spinning the top and waiting with his gun.
The first time you see this scene, you think, "This is a man ready to kill himself." You don't really know why, though you can guess it might have something to do with reality, and you're not sure what part the top plays, but you can see he's ready to do it. Watching it this last time, I thought it was interesting because it's such a 180 from the final scene with the top. Here you have Cobb completely intent on it, ready to put a bullet through his brain if he doesn't like the result. There, he no longer cares what it does because he's found his resolution.
It also hit me that there might almost be hope there for Cobb with his gun in his hand. He doesn't know what reality is anymore, and he's ready to throw everything around him away on the possibility that he'll wake up to something better. Like maybe when the top falls, he's a little disappointed that, no, this is reality and Mal is gone.
Honorable mention: The last four or so minutes of the film. I love it because it’s the director playing with us, just a little, and very probably delighting in it. I love it for the music (I’ve listened to the track that plays over it more than anything else since I saw the film opening day). I love that it doesn’t really matter if we know what the real answer is. I love that it makes people who need a straight answer crazy.
I would seriously watch the whole movie, all two and a half hours of it, just for those last few minutes. It hits me in such a perfect emotional spot. I love it.
Luckily, I love the rest of the movie, too.
*
Your Five Hottest Human Beings - with illustrations preferably
You seriously have no idea how difficult this was.
01. Gene Kelly. He can sing and dance
No pictures, but a link to "You Were Meant for Me" from Singin' in the Rain. I used to watch the film at my grandma's when I was little and would get home from school before my mom.
02. Alexander Skarsgard. As cracktastic and messed up as True Blood gets, I'll probably stick with it for him.
03. Claudia Black. I loooooove her.
04. Tom Hardy. Most recent addition. His voice. His mouth.
05. I debated about this for a while, but eventually I had to admit that, yes, Misha Collins has to be on this list. All of the dirty things he makes me want to write? Yeah. Have to include him.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-21 01:04 am (UTC)I am very surprised at your first scene pick because I never actually thought of the dreams/realities scenario quite like that. Although now that I read that line I cant help but think it true
Also I agree with the charm of Hollywood done the old school way. I haven't watched Avatar yet either and have no real desire to watch it either. PLUS JGL+BRACES = HOTTTT
AAAAAAND WE ARE BACK TO THE GIFs! MIIIISHA! TOOOOM! NNNNNGH.
I think I'll be in my bunk listening to Tom's voice recordings...mmm
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-21 05:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-21 05:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-21 08:58 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-21 09:43 pm (UTC)http://littlelostrabbit.deviantart.com/art/Inception-Arthur-s-Snowman-176220723?q=boost%3Apopular+meta%3Aall+max_age%3A24h&qo=162
:D
And yeah, the old man in the basement, with his comment, really did strike me when I first heard it. I didn't even remember the comment until now. Though I find the scenes with Fischer to be...interesting also. Somehow, the idea of how they were manipulating him was really fascinating...
Nice top 5 btw, the gifs are distracting though XD
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-22 07:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-22 08:00 am (UTC)That gif is such a distraction...
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-22 08:09 am (UTC)I partly included that scene because I really wanted something that fit the question - a moment I find significant that not everyone is going to list - and partly because the more I think about it, the more it's kind of a big deal. I mean, it's the first hint of how blurred the lines between reality and dreaming can become, and how tenuous our grasp on those lines is or can become.
Also, if she's just a projection - a complicated, very real projection - of Mal...Cobb's really is fucked up. Dear Arthur, why didn't you notice how bad it was getting?
Um, excuse me, let me change that equation a little:
(JGL+BRACES)(THREE PIECE SUIT-JACKET) = HOTTTT
Other acceptable answers include: DO ME NOW.
There.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-22 08:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-26 08:40 pm (UTC)The more I see the film, the more I enjoy Fischer's storyline. The second time I saw it, actually, it was his plot that got the biggest emotional reaction out of me. I get to the end of the movie and really want him to have that positive catharsis.