Saturday, August 28, 2010
Dreamtime
We spend 25%-35% of our lives asleep, and some of this in the bizarre, charged, and ultimately fragile world of dreams. Though dreams are sketchy and their logic collapses in the cold light of morning, we 'buy in' while we're dreaming, usually unaware that it's a dream. When we do become aware, we quickly awaken, as if someone 'up there' pressed an 'eject' button.
Arguably, what's dreamiest about this masterwork is the acting 'dream team' ensemble Nolan has assembled. Leonardo DiCaprio adds another complex, tortured, and compelling figure acid-etched into our consciousness, a worthy followup to his triumphs in 'Revolutionary Road' and the under-appreciated Shutter Island.
Below, the trailer in case you haven't seen it, and some comments by director Christopher Nolan...
Kudos to 'Inception' and its director/screenwriter Christopher Nolan for realizing that dreams are a fertile, unexplored territory for science fiction and filmmaking. Hats off to the 'Memento' visionary for creating a memorable work that engages the brain while acknowledging that dreams are built from the complex code of images and emotions, references and psychodynamics. In other words, ends will be worn loosely and subject to interpretation, with no neat little packages in sight... Miraculously, the film remains accessible on many levels and to the whole spectrum of IQ and EQ ranges currently populating the American Cineplex... Even with five levels of reality, you're never completely lost, though never completely defined... extraordinary...
Arguably, what's dreamiest about this masterwork is the acting 'dream team' ensemble Nolan has assembled. Leonardo DiCaprio adds another complex, tortured, and compelling figure acid-etched into our consciousness, a worthy followup to his triumphs in 'Revolutionary Road' and the under-appreciated Shutter Island. Ellen Page is luminous as a gifted young 'dream architect' learning the ropes. The impossibly beautiful and pained Cillian Murphy is arresting as the 'dream-ee,' the target industrial heir into whose brain the team is trying to plant the idea to disband his father's empire.
And Joseph Gordon-Leavitt might be the chameleon of his generation, whose confident and skeptical team coordinator is light years away from his turns as hapless romantic nerd (500 Days of Summer), high-school Sam Spade (Brick), adorable alien kid (Third Rock), and troubled male hustler (Mysterious Skin).
And finally, the Architect...
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