Episode 14 - Inception

Ed and Vivi try to remember to dream a little bigger as they dig into Christopher Nolan's 2010 Sci-fi epic Inception. 

Episode 14 – Published on Aug 2022

Written by Ed Mac

Spiel 

There aren’t too many filmmakers alive today who have the brand name clout of Christopher Nolan. His is the kind of creative and commercial licence that enables one to demand complete artistic control over increasingly expensive and complex film productions that are being funded by increasingly risk averse Hollywood studios. Not even Martin Scorsese can get that sort of buy-in from the majors these days, not that he ever really did anyway, I suppose. The point is that Nolan sits in that world-famous but rarefied air, probably otherwise only occupied by James Cameron right now, that many filmmakers aspire to, but will never be able to attain. And I think it’s a correct and commonly held belief that it was his 2010 hit “Inception” that solidified his position there.

Coming off the generation defining success of 2008’s Batman sequel The Dark Knight, Nolan was Hollywood’s golden boy. That film outperformed even the most optimistic box office expectations to become a true cultural phenomenon. So much so that, when Nolan and the film missed out on Oscar nominations, the academy expanded the field for Best Picture from 5 to 10 nominees. The thinking at the time was that this would allow more representation of films that were commercial, as well as critical, successes. It was a direct acknowledgement of Nolan’s achievement and a clear indicator of the kind of influence that can be attained through commercial success.

However, what Nolan achieved with Inception 2 years later is even more impressive. It’s well and good to get a superhero film to 1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office. But getting over 800 million for a sci-fi film about dreams and memories and suicide and regret? That’s something else entirely. When you can generate close enough to a billion dollars from a film that has underlying themes more closely associated with an Ingmar Bergman examination of the psyche, you’re pretty much hitting the sweet spot – a thought-provoking drama of human experience married up to a thrilling, special effects laden sci-fi wonderment.

I should emphasise here that I am NOT comparing Nolan to Bergman. Indeed, Inception, for me, is like most Nolan films in that there are many things about it that I greatly enjoy. But there are also aspects of his film and film making that irritate me. The problem is that I find myself unable to adequately articulate my reasons for this. Simply put, my opinion is that Nolan’s films tend to be overly, and I feel unnecessarily, complicated – there is always an overabundance of exposition and jargon and complex and competing story structures and timelines that often overwhelm me, despite the always impeccable technical prowess of the filmmaker and his collaborators.

However, there is something flimsy about Nolan’s films. Their intricate complexity feels like a magic trick, distracting the audience’s attention with perfected bombast from the possibility that the story they are being told may crumble under the weight of its creator’s ambition. I find the final image of Inception to be completely apt. The spinning top on the verge of almost tipping over is meant to convey ambiguity over whether the main character is dreaming or not. For me, it’s the perfect visual metaphor for this film and its creator’s artistic ambitions: a perfectly constructed mechanism of wonder that, if you watch it long enough, will not be able to sustain itself. Nolan is an inarguably great filmmaker and an obviously intelligent man, but I don’t think he is as intelligent as he believes. My issue is that I am not intelligent enough to pick apart the flaws in his work that are apparent to me on an apparently subconscious level. I often find myself watching his films, particularly Inception, as I would an illusionist’s show. I know what I am watching is always spectacular and exciting, but that it also doesn’t make sense, even within the rules that have been created for it.

Despite my misgivings, though, I am very grateful for Chris Nolan along with all of his ability and pretension. His dedication to the cinema experience and ongoing efforts to create thrilling big screen entertainment from original and real-world issues are worthy endeavours. And just to re-iterate, I enjoy Inception a lot: it’s a big movie of big ideas where expert collaborators combine their efforts to create a thrilling and though-provoking sci-fi epic worthy of many hours of discussion. If only I were clever enough to spot its fatal flaw. 

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