Random Thoughts about Inception
First off: I do plan to talk about other things I learned from ARGfest, and how the concerns of transmedia reach out far beyond ARGs. But the “hot brunette” comment has attracted a lot of attention, and it’s been some interesting exploration for me, so I ran with it. And when I wasn’t working or ill over the weekend, some new thoughts have slammed into my brain about video games that I want to touch on at some point.
But right now, fuck all that. I just got back from watching Christopher Nolan’s Inception, and I want to nerd out over it for a while. For those who haven’t seen it, it might be best to read this after you’ve seen the movie, because I’ll likely step all over spoiler country.
Inception Isn’t About Dreams
Let’s start off with one of the lesser (but still awesome) observations I had about the movie – the writing was fantastic. I really appreciate spare, powerful writing, and this movie has it in spades. The characters are also really good examples of what I talked about in my last couple of posts – Ariadne is (sigh) a hot brunette, but she is not Superwoman, nor does she require rescuing, nor is she a love interest. But every character is interesting and engaging, even the ones that are only on screen for a scene or two. The link above is to the core team in the movie, and that’s intentional – many of them are overt stereotypes, but all are given an interesting twist. I’m almost glad I came to these conclusions beforehand, because now I can point to Inception and say “yes, that.”
Which leads to my first conclusion about the movie: it isn’t really about being able to walk in dreams. Rather, it’s all about the characters – the dreams are just a metaphor for literal character exploration. Nolan does a great job of setting up the premise (people can walk in dreams; there is technology that allows this; people can specialize in this new technology; corporations have developed security specialists against this technology) in a very short space, but doesn’t waste time actually telling you what it is or how long it’s been around or even what year the movie is set in. That’s because it doesn’t matter – it’s just a conceit to get the characters in front of the audience and make them start caring about them enough to go stomping around in their personalities for nearly three hours.
Inception Could Only Be A Movie
The next thing I noticed was that Inception could only be a movie. Like Memento (shockingly, another Christopher Nolan film), film editing becomes not only a method of compressing time, but a narrative device in its own right. In Memento the reason is immediately obvious (the memory jumps), but in Inception its much more subtle, using film editing (and once in a while, jump cuts) to sell dream logic without having to say “hey, this is a dream” over and over. It could be done in, say, a novel, but novel readers aren’t as used to sudden jumps in narrative, while film audiences are. A case could be made for it being translated to television, but there are so many subtle elements that would be lost on a smaller screen – although I might be biased, since I saw it for the first time in IMAX. I believe that while you could tell the same story in other media, it wouldn’t be nearly as elegant or engaging as it is as a movie. Inception uses the language of movie tropes to tell a new and exciting story, and I’m a big fan of experiencing a story in its idealized form.
Inception Is Film Noir
Which leads to my final thought. I could tell from the trailers (and from the people trying to compare it to other movies) that this was a movie that pushed genre boundaries. So, I approached the movie trying to see what genre conventions it had at the core, instead of on the surface. For a while, I thought it was a deconstructed cyberpunk movie – it involves flawed people using quasi-legal technology in suspect ways against an equally suspect status quo, demonstrating that technology is only as good or bad as the people utilizing it. But when the tropes of technology, corporate espionage, and even the heist team started going in different directions, I wasn’t so sure anymore. On the ride home, David put words to it for me.
Inception is the world’s brightest film noir. Let’s toss out the visual techniques of noir and focus only on the story elements.
- Most films noir are crime dramas. Check: the main story is about a heist (albeit a very unusual one).
- Most films noir are about cynical attitudes. Check: there’s this amazing dream technology, and it’s being used to steal corporate secrets.
- Most films noir are about complex romantic or sexual relationships. Check: Cobb and Mal’s relationship is pretty much a textbook example of “complex.”
- Most films noir are unabashedly urban and claustrophic. Check: Even scenes involving beaches and mountain have buildings crammed into them, and expansive exotic locals are often compressed into a single building or even a few rooms.
- Most films noir have endings that are, at best, conflicted, and often quite bad for the main protagonist. Check: assuming you believe Inception has an ending (which I know Chuck Wendig does), it’s certainly an ambivalent one at best.
Now, there are legendary fights over what actually constitutes film noir, and I’m sure many folks will disagree with me putting Inception in this category. But it pushed a lot of the same buttons that other films noir push with me, and there are too many points of similarity for me to think that Christopher Nolan hasn’t at least heavily internalized the conceits of noir.
Inception Is Awesome
I’m kind of all over the map right now. My opinions might change after I’ve had some time to think (and maybe watch the movie again once or twice), but a sharp, intelligent movie hasn’t gotten me this excited in years. If for some bizarre reason you were waiting on my opinion before deciding for yourself to see it or not, do not wait any longer. Go see it right now.
BAM. THIS. YES.
Inception grabbed me from square one, and demanded to be noticed. I was blown away, and I can’t exactly explain it. Oh, and….IMAX…*drools* Seriously. Man. I hope that someday it rereleases on IMAX.
It’s one of the few movies I’ve seen on IMAX where I thought it was worth the higher-priced ticket.
You’re right on the money about Nolan and Noir. I recently watched a documentary called “Film Noir: Bringing Darkness Into Light,” in which Nolan was probably the most articulate and insightful commentator. I’d say that he’s a fan, but I don’t much care for understatement.
You should rent his first movie, “Following.” It’s even in black & white.
I’ll look into both of those. Much thanks.
… yes on noir, I think. That’s actually interesting, I hadn’t thought of that before. I’m more comfortable putting into that “neo-noir” category since it is so bright and well-lit, and since it takes some liberties in that realm, but it works. Huh. Cool. Well-played, Eddy Webb.
If you believe it’s noir, though, then you probably don’t believe the ending is a happy one. Accurate?
I’m not so sold that the characters are really top-tier. I actually think that’s where the film wobbles (like a top?) for me — they’re fun to watch, but inexplicably helpful and bound to the mission. I couldn’t describe most of the second-tier characters beyond physical characteristics and personality. Don’t know who they are. Don’t know their motivations, their fears, their wants.
Now, if you like the idea that the whole film is a dream of sorts, then their tabula rasa nature becomes a feature, not a bug, because they’re just projections (possibly).
– c.
Well, I think noir has to evolve as a genre at some point. I mean, sci-fi still doesn’t have giant robots and massive space dials in it, so noir should be given some chance to adapt and update. But I’m not a stickler for noir/neo-noir. It’s not like it’s a well-defined genre anyhow.
Noir movies can have happy-ish endings. Casablanca, for example, is an upbeat ending, even though it’s conflicted by the fact that Rick lets his long-lost love leave him. However, it’s satisfactory, because Rick’s story arc is concluded, even if it’s not a traditional ending. I see Inception’s ending to be similar — it’s satisfactory, even if it’s clear that he didn’t actually escape.
As for characters, I’d say look again and consider each dreamscape as an extension of that character’s subconscious. There’s a lot of loaded elements I saw on even a first pass that made each character far more complex than they appeared on the surface. Combined with some sharp and very layered dialogue and acting, and I think you’ll find the characters more complex than it appears at first. For a movie showcasing 6 or 7 characters in just under three hours, it’s a lot of character depth crammed into a short space. (Granted, it’s nowhere near the depth of, say, a Showtime TV show, but there’s just not enough time for that kind of exploration.)
We’ve gotten on the point where a flick that wanders remotely away the reservation stuns and wows us and leads us to believe it happens to be wonderful. “Inception” is not a terrible movie. It can be certainly superior than anything at all else Hollywood has to offer you this yr. Neither, however, is it awesome.
Finally saw it…isn’t it interesting that the first thing I thought was “now I can read Eddy’s post!”?
So, I loved the movie. I didn’t know Ellen Paige was in it until she walked on screen, which was a nice surprise because I like her. The cast was generally awesome, which I was happy about.
I agree about Paige’s character being an actual strong female character. She felt real – like she could have been a super cute classmate. Though, I think that might also be part of Paige’s talent in addition to the writers.
Yes to Noir. Yes to a good range of characters. Basically, I agree with you. I made my choice for the ending, though I accept the arguments of others for different endings. I rarely see movies in theaters and wouldn’t have gone to see this one if someone else hadn’t wanted to because I hadn’t seen anything about it except for the red carpet pics (which is how I knew Marion Cotillard was in it and I <3 her). I'm really glad I did and saw it in IMAX – beautiful and really captivating.
I’m curious what your take on the ending was?