Inception is Exceptional
First of all, apologies for the seemingly endless amount of time that has passed since I last posted on here. You would not believe the amount of hassle moving house, applying for a new university course and catching up with old friends and family can be. Or how much time it can consume. But I am back. With a few points up for discussion.
On the film front I’m ashamed to say that for the past few weeks the almost unstoppable flow of films I have coming my way nearly dried up, mainly from the shear lack of time to sit back and scrutinise relentlessly. However, that is not to say I haven’t been building up a wish list and I’m glad to say I have begun to chip away at it.
The first on my hit list was Inception which was an excellent way to restart my film reviewing. When you watch it, you can truly appreciate why it took director Christopher Nolan 10 years to write it. It is an exceptional piece of work and is unique in the fact that you can not really explain the plot, but simply must watch it. The films focuses around the concept of dreams and how they can be used to see into a person’s subconscious. This is taken one step further to explore the idea of being able to steal information from a person’s mind by entering their dreams. Sounds simple enough I know, but the logic behind these notions has been thoroughly developed and expanded to make it a believable concept.
The fact that is is dreams that are used as the main settings also allows for several paradoxes that question differences between reality and the dream world. The dream world allows for some extraordinary special effects that warp worlds and create a sense of awe. Whilst the plot is difficult to explain, this isn’t due to poor story telling: quite the opposite in fact. The narrative is exceptionally clever and draws on not just the basic element of dreaming, but also personal conflicts of the characters themselves. It explores ideas that we all have experienced at some point: falling in a dream, why we wake up if we die in our dreams, a dream within a dream and how memory can be warped by our subconscious.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays dream thief Cobb who is assigned the task of inception: instead of removing an idea he must implant one. This idea must appear as genuine inspiration and creation and soon becomes apparent that it is almost impossible to achieve. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page play his team members Arthur and Araidne who soon begin to realise that Cobb’s own personal trauma is leaking through into the dreams of their subject. Cobb’s past and characterisation is intricately woven into the story as an element that may mean nothing, or could mean everything.
This is an amazing film and I strongly recommend you go and see it. I guarantee it will make you think and blow you minds at the same time. It is difficult to review without going into too much detail because this is a film you need hours to talk about. It’s just that brilliant.
