5: INCEPTION

In terms of films this year that arrived with high expectations, Inception was unrivalled in its levels of anticipation. It was about the most anticipated film of the year, aside from maybe some film about toys.

Here was a film by a director coming off the biggest hit of his career, and the studio’s, in an age of adaptation and reinvention; with free reign to do as he pleased. The film was shrouded in a secrecy that, somehow, never revealed the true nature of the film until the public saw it in the cinema. It was not a summer tent-pole picture with a previous track record – it had no bestselling book, franchise characters or recognisably a film audiences could relate to, in terms of genre. While comparisons to The Matrix and Dark City are obvious, neither of those films either came with a pre-packaged audience. It was a calculated risk.

Because of this lack of familiarity, the film is riddled with exposition but what Inception truly deserves plaudits for is that once the audience is given the information required it expected its audience to keep up. Inception has been oversold as an ‘intelligent film’ but that doesn’t mean the film is without smarts. In fact, find another recent film that created a set of rules without reminding the audience every five minutes what movie it is they are watching. In that regard, Nolan as a writer, as much as a director, deserves plaudits. He created a complex narrative, with its own rulebook and never once compromised for the sake of an audience member that might need to be lectured. Undeniably, Ellen Page’s role becomes that of the audience; allowing there to be a reason that Nolan’s universe can be explained. Yet smartly, her role does not become a cipher through which the audience can ask the question; "can you repeat that again". Ariadne is her own person not just a conduit for exposition.

Nolan is the creative force behind this picture. His name virtually synonymous with the thought provoking summer film. As a director he is unlike an Aronofsky or *shudder* a Bay; in that his visuals occur for the most part unfussily “in camera”. A train on the street? A train is rode through a bustling metropolis colliding with traffic. A zero gravity corridor fight sequence? He builds the corridor and throws his actors through it. Rather than hurl his camera around a room or create his world on a computer months later Nolan’s scenes are built and the camera merely records them. His style has often been compared to Hitchcock and Kubrick. Filmmakers who often had incredible feats happening before the camera lens but never did anything to sacrifice their story for the sake of visual stimulation. Nolan is very much in that same company.

It is what takes place before the camera that astounds. His action sequences are dazzling and epic at times, and other times intimate and claustrophobic. Throughout they are never anything less than dazzling while never compromising the rules that Nolan had laid out. Inception is an uncompromised vision of a movie. It is nothing less than the work of an auteur.

The fact that a summer blockbuster can be referred to as an auteur’s work speaks to the depth and intelligence Inception has. Blockbusters can be just as intimately personal and intelligent as the tiny independent movies that always receive those accolades. It shall be interesting to see what the Hollywood studio system’s reaction is to the film’s success and whether they will ape the film’s style and its content or try and branch out creatively.

I could talk up the other reasons I adore the film. The cast are uniformly excellent, in particular Tom Hardy, essentially playing the hard man role, clearly marks himself out as a talent with even the most common stereotype to work from. Wally Pfister’s gorgeous cinematography continues to remind everyone how essential he is to Nolan’s success (this being their fifth collaboration together). The excellent action sequences, the humour, the characters, the locations. But in truth, the primary reason to love this film underneath it all, and why it has earned its place on my list is simply Nolan himself.

As a filmmaker Nolan is unrivalled in terms of his commitment to his craft. Story and ideas can co-exist with the summer schedule and for that Inception is wonderful. Just don’t spend too long on that ending, it’s an argument that has no resolution.