Overflow of Genius: A Modest Film Discussion with Fareed and Raj - Episode #1: “Inception” (2010)
July 23rd, 2010 by Raj Ranade
Overflow of Genius: A Modest Film Discussion with Fareed and Raj - Episode #1: Inception (mp3)
- 0:00-2:01 - Intro (Music: “Walking on a Dream” - Empire of the Sun)
- 2:01-34:12 - Review: “Inception”
- 34:12-35:18 - Outro (Music: “Juicy” - Notorious B.I.G.)
Notes:
- You can see our written takes on Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Bronson”, the movie that showcased a spellbinding and star-making performance from “Inception” supporting player Tom Hardy, here (Raj) and here (Fareed).
- There will be another show forthcoming within the next two weeks - more information on what we’ll be talking about later!
- Yell at/exalt us in the comments below!
Entry Filed under: Podcasts
4 Comments Add your own
1. Trevor | July 26th, 2010 at 1:57 pm
oh snap, thesis reference!…not every dream is painted in all the colors of the spectrum, and I think too “ambitious” an effort to distort the reality of dreams would be doomed to fail as another in a long line of Matrix imitators. you say maybe this made it a bit boring, but i think Nolan deserves credit for keeping the artistic flourish to a minimum and allowing the story to proceed at a very even (not flat!) pace…also, the hallway fight scene was only zero G during the free-fall, but during the tumbling van segment (”did you see that?”) it was shifting G, thanks to the Chemist’s vestibular-preserving sedative, which was much more interesting. I’m not sure i’ve ever seen a fight scene with quite that description, and it was a blast to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt earn the title of “best at what he does,” very artfully maneuvering the changes in gravity as the sub-con projection tumbled around. I’m always taken in by characters (good or evil) who are just really good at their jobs (in addition to being beautifully dressed–so what if he’s a little dour? just let the perfectly-fitted suits do the talking). Also, I loved the slow-mo shots of the group in free-fall (yes, chortle-inducing), during which the eye was drawn most powerfully to JGL. Amongst my fellow movie-goers, Arthur was the favorite character for 3 out of 4, and for the other gent a close second to…Tom Hardy! Bronson, sure, but I can’t believe you guys didn’t mention his role as Bob the Poof in Rocknrolla.
Good stuff, guys.
2. Raj Ranade | July 26th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Everybody’s talking about artistic flourishes like they aren’t totally awesome! But good points, Trevor (and totally forgot about the Poof - again, one of the best parts of that movie!).
Your reminder of the shifting Gs in the hotel also has me in super-nitpick mode: When the hotel was rotating from the tumbling van, wouldn’t all the other characters, particularly Cillian Murphy, have been spinning wildly as well? And shouldn’t the winter wonderland have been continually rotating then as well? And wouldn’t limbo then be in a comically fast tail spin? Am I confusing the chronologies? Am I dreaming right now?
3. Trevor | July 26th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
hmm…now you’ve got me thinking…I don’t recall if they make any indication of the disturbance in the deeper levels of consciousness…I could rationalize and say that the third and limbo levels of sub-consciousness were not aware of vestibular changes, but yeah, that’s a head-scratcher…you remind me of my only real problem with the film, though I don’t know of an obvious solution, and that was that they go to a great deal of trouble to explain the temporal differences between layers of consciousness, and yet it seems like time is passing at about the same rate everywhere…the mind’s a tricky thing
4. fben | July 27th, 2010 at 8:17 pm
Ha, Trevor! I’ll sneak a reference to my old thesis (about how post-9/11 anxiety permeates so much of our popular culture including “The Dark Knight) anywhere I can!
I’m happy that Raj raised the question of Inception’s political stakes. It seems that in the dream territory Nolan no longer has to even suggest “United we stand” world ala the boat scene in his 2008 Batman movie (even if, compared to Spiderman 2, that was definitely a case of a few good seeds standing up to the rest of the heartless pack).
We gain glimpses of the Middle East as filtered through the mind of a Western architect at the opening of “Inception.” It stands as a literally explosive hell well past the brink of collapse. This is a dreamscape where the Western masses inhabiting the metropolis of the subconscious are violent and aggressive - where they coldly tear at even a benign alien presence.
There is a deep-rooted pessimism in this reality, and the very conceit of Inception allows the filmmaker (or film if you prefer) to boldly crystallize the underlying fears that drive a contemporary Western psyche. Thus, it seems to prove that Nolan’s cinematic vision of the world grows ever bleaker as the budgets of his productions expand. He’s a filmmaker who pushes the subversive political possibilities of the blockbuster form to its limits.
Moving on to what you guys actually talked about - Trevor, I’m glad you clarified that the Gordon Levitt fight scene took place in a “Shifting G” sphere. This is a vital element why the sequence proves so awe expiring.
Nolan often brings an uncanny sense of weight and heft to his action sequences. By and large, there’s always an extra punch to even simple shots like a thug getting run over (in the rainy gun fight, the film cuts to a shot of the camera attached to the back of a car thrusting into the midsection of a bad guy. Imagine watching that scene on IMAX!).
By having a shifting gravity as Gordon Levitt, there is an element of reality/ordinary to the spectacle that makes the physics defying all the more extraordinary.
Re: the logic of how each level of the dream interacted with each other, I just thought that each strand reacted differently to the various physical disturbances in the world above it.
That’s why a van flipping in one dream made a hotel room flip about in one, launched an avalanche in the other, and sparked an apocalyptic storm in the last.
Though, I think we can all agree, it would’ve been really, really cool if the James Bond set piece also flipped about like crazy.
As for the temporalities, I just assumed that the film wasn’t showing us the dead time in every strand of the dream. For instance, presumably Leo and Juno could have been walking in limbo for days, continuing to follow specters of Cobb’s children until finally arriving upon his wife.* Hopefully, the DVD will include footage of this simultaneously boring and horrifying deleted scene!
-Fareed
*Admittedly, Nolan has done some strange trimming of his tales for brevity’s sake. Remember Batman Begins?
Henri Ducard/Liam Neeson: “Before gaining entrance into the holiest of sanctuaries to begin your training, you must seek the elusive blue flower, only spotted every 10 years on the most forbidding parts of this mountain. Before finding it, you will have to suffer through cold and…”
Bruce Wayne/ Christian Bale: “I found it!”
Henri Ducard./Liam Neeson: “Oh, great! Well let’s begin that training.”
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed