Inception

I am always a bit apprehensive going to a movie that is 2 1/2 hours long, because I don't want to end up in a sitting through anything that long that I don't like. But given that Inception was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, I figured it couldn't be that much of a risked.

The plot of the film revolves around a group of characters who enter the dreams of others to either find out information, or to plant on idea in someone's mind. Then you have dreams inside of dreams, and much tension created concerning whether all of these people are ever going to be able to get back out of all these dream levels.

Given Patrick Goldstein's article describing how the movie tends to go over much better with younger, video game playing, audiences, as opposed to older audiences, I was afraid which side of this divide I might fall on. Fortunately, I can definitely say that I fell on the younger side.

I am sure if I saw it again I would get more out of it, but I did manage to follow what was happening enough that I never felt lost. Considering how complicated the storyline is, making a comprehensible movie out of this is quite an achievement. I am not sure if there are many directors other than Nolan who could have accomplished this. The only problem I had was near the end when everyone was wrapped up in snow suits, I did have some trouble keeping track of who was who.

I would expect this film to win many awards this year, number one being the Screen Actors Guild award for Best Ensemble Cast. There are just so many great performances in this film, it is hard to imagine anything better.

At first I could not figure out who Marion Cotillard was. I thought she looked familiar. Music is used to to warn characters inside of a dream that they are about to be brought out, because the music penetrates sleep. The music used by these guys is Edith Piaf. After I heard Piaf once or twice I recognized Cotillard from her Oscar winning performance as Piaf in La Vie En Rose. Oh the subliminal uses of music.

Add Inception to The Hurt Locker—my favorite film from last year—on the list of films that prove that it is possible to make intelligent action films, although this seems like too much to ask from a lot of film makers.

Here is the trailer: