Extracted from my own subconscious

After first seeing the movie Inception at a screening over a week ago, I felt it might be necessary for me to write a review of some kind, if not as an explanation for others, then as a way to analyze the film in my own mind.  So for ten days, I've replayed it--both in my mind and once literally as I went to see Inception a second time over the weekend--and read a number of articles speaking both in favor of its merits and against its problematic aspects.  Obviously, not everyone can love such a film-- it is perhaps difficult to understand on first viewing, open to many interpretations, and some say lacks emotional weight in favor of explanation and visual spectacle (on which point I passionately disagree).  I imagine not everyone can love Inception in the same way not everyone loves Lost or the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Too lengthy, too confusing, too unrealistic.  What can I say, some people were just meant to be philestines--not everyone was born with my superior intelligence.  How can I describe the ways this movie has come to enliven my mind in the days since I have experienced all its greatness and wonder and intelligence?  Why did it affect me (and numerous others) so, and fail to leave any impact on others (aside from perhaps an ability to get to know their own dreams better as it put them to sleep)?  All I can really speak of are my own thoughts, thusly.

I would argue that Inception is less a movie about dreams and more about the way we perceive reality.  Writer/director Christopher Nolan admitted to being influenced by The Matrix and that is one way it shows.  Dreams, alternate realities, and time travel are all subjects that interest me more than most others, so to see such ideas placed within a talented cast and captivating story, not to mention incredible visual effects, excited me greatly.  If you haven't seen the film yet, I don't know why you're reading this blog post, but it involves a man named Cobb (Leonardo Dicaprio) who extracts information from people's subconsciouses for power-hungry corporations, illegally and at great risk to himself and his team members.  Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays one of those team members, Arthur; it is his job to research the target before entering into a shared dream; Cobb hires Ariadne (Ellen Page) as his architect to design the world of the dream, and Eames (Tom Hardy) as the forger to disguise himself as an important player in the plan.  Saito (Ken Watanabe) hires Cobb to perform inception, or place an idea into Fischer's (Cillian Murphy) subconscious-- that he will break up his father's empire.  This is the "heist" part of the film and its main focus-- meanwhile, Mal (Marion Cotillard) haunts Cobb's dreams as he believes he wronged her before her death and has become obsessed.  Ariadne decides to make it her mission to help Cobb purge himself of Mal, but it's unclear until the end whether this is possible.  Okay, enough summary.

Nolan apparently worked on the script for ten years before making Inception and the careful attention to detail and deep thought show on the screen.  Every scene appears so carefully interwoven, every difficult question answered coherently and succinctly--something like the idea of the totem each person is meant to carry so that they can determine whether they are living in reality or someone else's dream becomes essential to understanding the story, and we get exactly the ammount of information we need.  As the characters descent to deeper dream levels, we never lose track of where we are in time as Nolan continues to shift back to show us the van falling off the bridge, Arthur moving a gravity-free bundle of unconscious dreamers into an elevator (one of the coolest things I've ever seen, by the way), Eames defending the ice-covered fort, and finally the depths of the lost subscious world, the decaying city Cobb and Mal created for themselves all those years ago (or was it mere months?).  These moments where we go up the levels and then down again also managed to create great suspense where it may not have been.  I also love how Nolan solved the problem of "this is only a dream" mentality with their heist mission.  Early on in the film it's easy to come out of the dream when one gets into danger, just die and you wake up.  But if you are too heavily sedated to wake up, what then?  It raises the stakes and makes the dream world become more like the real one.

The acting in Inception is so excellent, not a part miscast, even Ken Watanabe who is at times difficult to understand could not be replaced.  Though not on the screen for long, Cillian Murphy's Fischer affected me on both viewings as I watched him come to grips with his feelings for his father.  Though he was being unduly influenced by the team of inceptors, the idea that a good feeling is stronger than a bad one ultimately left Fischer with closure, or at least the kind that can come from a dream.  Though Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's characters were not as developed as Dicaprio's, I automatically liked them and felt they brought depth to their roles.  In addition to the acting, the music left me reeling.  Hans Zimmer is a genius and that's all I will say about that.

Ultimately, though the visuals floored me, I'm most interested in the film's ending.  In the climactic scene, Cobb has finally returned home to his children, whose faces he finally sees, has left the totem spinning on the table, in fact completely disregarded it because it seems he no longer cares whether this is reality or a dream-- he has accepted it as his reality no matter what the result.  For this reason, Nolan does not let the audience see whether the totem's spin dies out or remains perpetual; but the bigger reason he does not allow us to see, is to instill (incept?) the idea that we can never truly know what is real.  We only know what we perceive and what our brains interpret can be a falsity.  Cobb knew he loved Mal, and so his projection of Mal argued with him that she was the only thing he knew was real anymore.  It argued with him to stay in the world of the subconscious, but ultimately he could not stay there because he knew "Mal" was only his projection of her.  My hope of course is that in the final scene his children are not mere projections, though I lean toward that interpretation as everything in the scene is so closely repeated to what has gone before.  My plan for when I get the dvd is to see whether the children are wearing the same clothes in that final scene has they had been doing before, but I suppose that could be interpreted as coincidence as well.  I do find the final minutes of the movie very odd-- Cobb wakes up from the subconscious world before we see Saito kill himself or Cobb, we hear no words from the other characters on the plane but are given mere smiles, he arrives home where we get the same shots as Nolan used to indicate Cobb's dreamworld.  It's all very frustrating, but as I said, it seems the best interpretation would be that we can never know for sure if Cobb is waking or dreaming.  Perhaps all waking is a form of dreaming or vice versa.  All I know is Inception is my favorite movie of the year, possibly my favorite movie since Return of the King in 2003.  I hope I was able to somewhat coherently communicate why.

Comments

[bagsok]

bagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsokbagsok

[CFL lighting]

CFL lighting
energy save lamp
spiral lamp
outdoor flood lights
decorative lamps
U bulb
lotus light
GU10 lamp
MR11 LED
g bulb
gu base
u shaped bulbs
LED tubes light
LED down light
LED spot light
LED cabinet lights
LED spot lamps
LEDs light bulbs
LED cups
Lamp cup
LED wall lamp
LED step light
LED underwater light
LED landscape light
Energy saving lamps
Energy savings light bulbs
Energy save light
stand up bag
zipper bags
sealed bags
wholesale garment bag
socks bag
Medical packaging
dog food bags
electronics packaging
coffee bags
Underwear bags
creative packaging
Chemical bags
Food packaging bags
Buy tea bags
mattress springs
mattress fabric
mattress tape
mattress thread
knitted fabrics
spring Mattress
Spring Clips
Mattress protector
Nonwoven Fabric
Printed fabric
Mattress Fabric
optical filters
laser filters
beam splitters
sapphire windows
penta prism
optical lense
fused silica
GP car
GS boat
EP boat
GP boat
EPE foam sheet extrusion

line
PS foam box making

machine
EPE foam net extruder
PE foam pipe extruder
EPE foam rod extrusion line
XPS foam board extrusion

line
XPE foam sheet production

line
EPS machinery
Coating Machine
Recycle machine
cheap nhl jerseys
discount mlb jerseys
wholesale mlb jerseys
customized nfl

jerseys
nhl custom jerseys
replica mlb jerseys
cheap mlb jerseys
design hockey jerseys
replica nfl jerseys
wholesale nfl jerseys
discount designer handbags
customize soccer jersey
cheap soccer jersey
nfl jerseys cheap authentic
Cooler bags wholesale
Drawstring Bags
Cooler Bags
sports backpack
Buy Tote Bags
Folding Bags
marble suppliers
buy marble
granite suppliers
china stones
best granite
Marble Stone
marble suppliers
marble manufacturers
granite stone
granite marble
heat transfer press

machine
flower plates
photo crystals
Sublimation Products
Sublimation textile
photo crystals
button making machine
plush animal toys
bird toys
buy dog toys
plush toys manufacturer
bear plush toys
pet bird toys
pet cat toys
wholesale cat toys
Pet Toys
Easter toys
plush dog toys
dog toys
Animal Toys
best cat toys
cartoon toys
plush toys
bird toys
dog pet toys
LED Flexible
LED Light Strip
LED Tunnel light
LED Panel Light
LED Wall Washer
LED T5 Tube
LED T8 Tube
led tubes
LED spot light
aluminium profile
aluminium profiles
Anodized Aluminium Profile
aluminum solar panel frame
Standard aluminium profile
aluminium Powder Coating
Standard aluminium profile
Sliding Aluminium Windows
Solar Mounting System
aluminium doors windows
Sliding Aluminium Doors
Aluminium Doors & Windows
stainless steel tubes pipes
Aluminium Curtain Wall
蒸煮
炭火焼き
唐揚げ
鶏の唐揚げ
唐揚げ定食
豚肉　野菜
野菜加工品
おいしい鶏肉
冷凍　鶏肉
豚肉　加工
おいしい豚肉
vacuum circuit breaker
porcelain insulator
cable joint
composite insulator
ceramic insulator
porcelain

insulators
High voltage products
insulator connector
epoxy insulator
Sodium alginate
Sugar Alcohol
Seaweed Fertilizer
Alginate Mask
sorbitol liquid
sorbitol powder
alginic acid
Propylene Glycol Alginate
potassium alginate
seaweed fertilizer liquid
seaweed fertilizer suppliers
army shoes
labor protection shoes
Whitening gel syringe
swivel usb
Buy slimming capsules
Sodium Nitrite
slimming coffee
teeth whitening gel
cooler box
ice cooler box
small cooler box
portable cooler box
trolley cooler box
beer cooler box
cooler bag
picnic bag
picnic basket
picnic baskets for sale
picnic cooler bag
small cooler bags
Cooler bag manufacturer
Masonic rings
925 silver ring
stainless steel jewelry
titanium jewelry
tungsten rings
signet ring
cross pendants
CZ jewelry
Christian jewelry
dog tag pendant
titanium mens rings
silver jewelry supplier
custom class ring
designer cuff links
silver jewelry supplier
Алюминиевые окна и двери
Производство алюминия
Алюминиевый кузов
Алюминиевый радиатор
производители алюминиевого п

рофиля
алюминиевые окна
Алюминиевые окна и двери
алюминиевый контейнер
алюминиевые окна
производство алюминиевого пр

офиля
производство алюминиевых око

н
Globe Valve
Butterfly Valve
Plug Valves
Steel Valve
Forged Steel Valve
stainless steel ball valve
high pressure ball valve
3 way ball valve
Cast Steel Ball Valve
Trunnion Ball Valve
cast steel gate valve
stainless steel check valve
cast steel check valve
Ball Valve
Gate Valve
Check Valve
ball check valve
ball valve manufacturer
gate valve manufacturers
Forged Steel Gate Valves
Forged

Steel Check Valves
Pneumatic Actuator
banner flex machine
Butterfly Valves
Ball Valves
forged Steel valve supplier
cast iron gate valve
Offset Butterfly Valve
Globe Valves
control valve
control valve supplier
safty valve
safety valve manufacturer
Plastic Machinery
pvc banner flex machine
plastic sheet line
Bead Wrapping Machine
tearing machine
pvc profile

machine
complex machine
banner flex line
PET bottle washing

line
pvc pipe machine
banner flex machine
pvc banner flex

line
wholesale serving trays
white melamine plates
melamine bowl set
melamine serving trays
food serving trays
melamine dinner set
funky kitchen ware
melamine cup
white melamine bowls
melamine bowls with lids
melamine plates
melamine bowl
melamine tray
mini portable speaker
best mini

speakers
mini speakers
mini speaker

manufacturer
usb mini speaker
usb mini speakers
multimedia speakers
best bluetooth

speakers
portable bluetooth

speaker
bluetooth speakers
China Torches
bamboo torches
Pot Packing Candle
Bamboo Torch
total bamboo torch
bamboo garden gazebo
wooden barrels
chinese tea bags
wholesale tea bags
blooming tea
jasmine flower tea
chinese white tea
white tea supplier
white tea exporter