Thoughts on “Inception”
Dear Chistopher Nolan,
I just returned from a midnight screening of your latest film, Inception. Simply put, well done, sir. Thank you for taking the time to craft a truly original story and cast it out confidently on a sea of franchises and remakes. Thank you for trusting that my fellow movie-goers and I are not slack-jawed idiots who need to be spoon-fed simplicity, familiarity, and banality. Thank you for realizing that “fun” doesn’t have to mean “stupid,” for putting story first, and for understanding that action set pieces can exist because, rather than in spite of, a good story. Thank you for not tricking me with a cheap twist ending. Thank you also for not pulling your punch in the last act and wrapping everything up with a neat happy ending (like certain other formerly-great directors have felt the need to do in their later years). Like Kubrick, Hitchcock, and other artists who have inspired you, you understand that ambiguity can sometimes be a reward rather than a liability.
Keep up the good work. While it goes without saying that I now look forward with impatient eyes to Batman 3 and the new Superman, I think I am most excited about the original projects of which we—and maybe even you—do not yet know. I’ve come to expect only the best from you, and I’m certain that you will not let me down.
Sincerely,
Mike
PS. Thanks also for casting Marion Cotillard. She’s real pretty.
You’re welcome.
Wanted to watch it from the preview. Your review makes me want to watch it more. And Todd looking over my shoulder and telling me that both Joseph Gordon-Leavitt and Cillian Murphy are in it…well, droooooool
LOVED the ambiguous ending. Would not have it any other way.
Though she’s perdy to look at, I had a problem with Cotillard’s accent. Was she suppose to be foreign? Because Leo spoke like an American, Michael Cain like a brit (and he’s suppose to be her father, no?), while she had an accent I couldn’t place and therefore couldn’t get past.
Her accent was French. The university at which Caine taught was in Paris. Presumably, Caine moved to France to teach, married a French woman, gave birth to a French child. Leo was American, went to school in Paris, met Cotillard there.
Fun fact! Christopher Nolan has dual US/British citizenship. He was born in England but spend a significant part of his life in Chicago. He speaks with an English accent. His brother, Jonathan Nolan, speaks with an American accent.
Well said! That movie was everything from slickly action packed, to deeply personal, to slyly witty. I had this big grin smacked across my face for most of it.
Oh, and I love that half the people I saw it with (and me) want their own totems now.