Inception: Thoughts from a Dream Geek
Aug. 16th, 2010 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
author_by_nightIt's no secret that I am the sort of person who is obsessed with dreams. I love interpreting them, I love analyzing them, and I generally love stories involving them.
So when I heard about Inception, I knew it was probably a go for me.
Now, one thing - I'm going to review the movie below, but while I want to be spoiler free, you simply can't discuss the movie sans spoilers. Well, you can, but then the review's boring. :P If you plan on seeing Inception, I highly recommend you not read this, or at least skim very carefully.
I liked Inception because it was finally a film that did not question my intelligence.
Inception is not afraid to make you think. From the very start, I was a bit confused because we, the audience, seemed to have jumped right into the middle of a movie - which is, of course, the entire point. Cobb later tells Ariadne that you know a dream is a dream if you can't tell anyone how you got from Point A to Point B. We, the audience, couldn't - but what was happening was real, wasn't it? After all, it felt real... but, we find out, it wasn't.
The movie is good with its twists and turns, especially concerning Mal, Cobb's wife. We're initially led to believe they had a bad divorce of some sort. Then we're told she died. I have to admit that I predicted she'd killed herself, but I wasn't so sure because Cobb implied he was blamed for killing her - was it possible a dream had gone too far and she'd had some sort of reaction in the real world, like a heart attack? Was she in limbo? We find out, of course, that she killed herself.
Or so it seems. The gem is at the end. When Cobb leaves the plane, everyone is staring at him the way he said they do when you're dreaming. However, they'd also all shared a rather disturbing dream with him, so perhaps it could be "what the hell just happened" stares. Moreover, a few of them seem to give him more meaningful looks than we see in Ariadne's dream where she's being stared at. Ariadne in the end seems to blink and not know what to say, and IIRC someone gives him a sort of knowing smile. Finally, he goes home - maybe. The totem is still spinning, and there's something surreal about it - his kids are doing the exact same things they've been doing in his imagination.
As an audience we're left wondering what was real and what wasn't. Throughout the movie, anything could have been part of a dream sequence. We don't know what's real. Was half of it real? Some of it? None of it? I definitely don't think the ending was completely real at all, but then what did actually happen?
I did have a few problems with this film. First, there was a strange discrepancy between the fact that in every dream we saw, something violent happened - and yet Mal missed the dream world. To me, it might have been nice to have seen more of a balance. I'm not saying I wanted Cobb to ride a unicorn into the sunset, but when you've just seen three people dream about being robbed and shot and kidnapped, it's hard to buy into the fact that someone would want to live in this world. Now, that may very well be intentional - Cobb is certainly disturbed, so perhaps that's why his dreams are so drastic (especially if the world in its entirety is a dream). However, as this movie was already pretty long, that may not have been possible.
Second, there were a lot of moral issues that I felt could have been touched upon a bit more, but weren't. Ariadne has moral concerns (rightly so), but even she sort of drops them as soon as she realizes how curious she is. The only time we're really confronted with them is Mal's suicide. And yet even though Cobb has this guilt about causing someone to go insane by dreaming with them, he's doing it again.
I definitely think that to properly enjoy this movie, you have to a, see it knowing you're being made to think, and b, see it more than once. I plan on getting it once it comes out on DVD so I can watch again and properly dissect. I know I missed a lot the first time.
As for what I think was real... I really have no idea, but while I don't necessarily think it was all a dream, I'd say at least half of it was (not counting the actual dream). The ending might have been a dream, but it could also have been an awakening, with everything else being the dream. Perhaps Cobb is the one who lost touch with reality and not his wife - that's certainly suggested in the film.
My final reaction? It was a good movie, but it could have been better with less action and more psychology. Also, it's definitely something you should see more than once - perhaps more than twice.
So when I heard about Inception, I knew it was probably a go for me.
Now, one thing - I'm going to review the movie below, but while I want to be spoiler free, you simply can't discuss the movie sans spoilers. Well, you can, but then the review's boring. :P If you plan on seeing Inception, I highly recommend you not read this, or at least skim very carefully.
I liked Inception because it was finally a film that did not question my intelligence.
Inception is not afraid to make you think. From the very start, I was a bit confused because we, the audience, seemed to have jumped right into the middle of a movie - which is, of course, the entire point. Cobb later tells Ariadne that you know a dream is a dream if you can't tell anyone how you got from Point A to Point B. We, the audience, couldn't - but what was happening was real, wasn't it? After all, it felt real... but, we find out, it wasn't.
The movie is good with its twists and turns, especially concerning Mal, Cobb's wife. We're initially led to believe they had a bad divorce of some sort. Then we're told she died. I have to admit that I predicted she'd killed herself, but I wasn't so sure because Cobb implied he was blamed for killing her - was it possible a dream had gone too far and she'd had some sort of reaction in the real world, like a heart attack? Was she in limbo? We find out, of course, that she killed herself.
Or so it seems. The gem is at the end. When Cobb leaves the plane, everyone is staring at him the way he said they do when you're dreaming. However, they'd also all shared a rather disturbing dream with him, so perhaps it could be "what the hell just happened" stares. Moreover, a few of them seem to give him more meaningful looks than we see in Ariadne's dream where she's being stared at. Ariadne in the end seems to blink and not know what to say, and IIRC someone gives him a sort of knowing smile. Finally, he goes home - maybe. The totem is still spinning, and there's something surreal about it - his kids are doing the exact same things they've been doing in his imagination.
As an audience we're left wondering what was real and what wasn't. Throughout the movie, anything could have been part of a dream sequence. We don't know what's real. Was half of it real? Some of it? None of it? I definitely don't think the ending was completely real at all, but then what did actually happen?
I did have a few problems with this film. First, there was a strange discrepancy between the fact that in every dream we saw, something violent happened - and yet Mal missed the dream world. To me, it might have been nice to have seen more of a balance. I'm not saying I wanted Cobb to ride a unicorn into the sunset, but when you've just seen three people dream about being robbed and shot and kidnapped, it's hard to buy into the fact that someone would want to live in this world. Now, that may very well be intentional - Cobb is certainly disturbed, so perhaps that's why his dreams are so drastic (especially if the world in its entirety is a dream). However, as this movie was already pretty long, that may not have been possible.
Second, there were a lot of moral issues that I felt could have been touched upon a bit more, but weren't. Ariadne has moral concerns (rightly so), but even she sort of drops them as soon as she realizes how curious she is. The only time we're really confronted with them is Mal's suicide. And yet even though Cobb has this guilt about causing someone to go insane by dreaming with them, he's doing it again.
I definitely think that to properly enjoy this movie, you have to a, see it knowing you're being made to think, and b, see it more than once. I plan on getting it once it comes out on DVD so I can watch again and properly dissect. I know I missed a lot the first time.
As for what I think was real... I really have no idea, but while I don't necessarily think it was all a dream, I'd say at least half of it was (not counting the actual dream). The ending might have been a dream, but it could also have been an awakening, with everything else being the dream. Perhaps Cobb is the one who lost touch with reality and not his wife - that's certainly suggested in the film.
My final reaction? It was a good movie, but it could have been better with less action and more psychology. Also, it's definitely something you should see more than once - perhaps more than twice.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-16 09:06 pm (UTC)Good point... I guess I just wanted to know more about the other dreams people could potentially have and the dreams they could potentially have altered that weren't necessarily violent - or even serene. Although I guess we had Ariadne's dream as a good example of that - it wasn't violent or serene (though her second dream ended violently, but that was Cobb's subconcious), it was completely neutral.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-16 02:40 pm (UTC)In Cobbs' dreams, he's always wearing his wedding band.
The ending, for me, is real. Sure the spinning top is never shown to fall, but you see it starting to wobble, and then it blacks out.
Of course, I tried to get a glimpse of Cobb's hand, but, since the director knew this would be something we're looking for, YOU NEVER SEE COBBS' hand. ARGH.
As for the kids doing THE EXACT SAME THING throughout the movie, notice the clothing. They're in different clothing in the last scene, unlike in the dreams (ALWAYS SAME CLOTHES) where they're always popping up. (UGH, took me 3x to notice the differences though and come to a conclusion)
Mal was such an intense presence throughout the movie. I loved it. 'Do you know what it's like to be a lover?' *goosebumps*
And I'm still trying to figure out why Cobb never got upset with Ariadne. Did you notice that? Is it just me? I woulda been all 'GET OUT OF MY DREAMS!!'
Tangent, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is so fiiiiine in three piece suits. UNF.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-17 11:42 am (UTC)And I'm still trying to figure out why Cobb never got upset with Ariadne. Did you notice that? Is it just me? I woulda been all 'GET OUT OF MY DREAMS!!'
Yeah, I thought he was going to yell at her and was surprised when he didn't. My best guess is that he was so focused on getting her out that he didn't really have room or time for anger. I would've been angry too though - even if it was a friend claiming she wanted to help. Maybe especially - how does breaking someone's trust and violating their privacy make them better?
no subject
Date: 2010-08-16 05:04 pm (UTC)If you look carefully at the children, you will notice they're slightly older. Also, the costume people were instructed to put different clothes on the kids in the last scene than in the earlier dreams.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-17 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-16 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-17 11:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-16 08:38 pm (UTC)Didn't notice any sounds in the end my self tough.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-17 02:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-22 09:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-22 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-23 12:54 am (UTC)