"Inception"

Title: "Inception"
Director: Christopher Nolan
Producers: C. Nolan and E. Thomas
Editing: Lee Smith
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Starring:
- Leonardo DiCaprio as Dom Cobb
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur
- Ellen Page as Ariadne
- Marion Cotillard as Mallorie "Mal" Cobb
- Ken Watanabe as Mr. Saito
- Tom Berenger as Peter Browning
- Michael Caine as Professor Stephen Miles

Plot and Critical Review: Dom Cobb and his partner Arthur perform illegal corporate espionage by entering the subconscious minds of their targets, using two-level "dream within a dream" strategies to "extract" valuable information. Each of the "extractors" carries a "totem", a personalized small object whose behavior is unpredictable to anyone except its owner, to determine whether they are in another person's dream. Cobb's totem is a spinning top which perpetually spins in the dream state. Cobb struggles with memories of his dead wife, Mal, who manifests within his dreams and tries to sabotage his efforts.

Cobb is approached by Mr. Saito, Cobb's last extraction target, who asks Cobb and his team to perform the act of "inception"; planting an idea within the person's subconscious mind. Saito wishes to break up the energy empire of his competitor, the ailing Maurice Fischer, by suggesting the idea to his son Robert Fischer who will inherit the empire when his father dies. Should Cobb succeed, Saito promises to use his influence to clear Cobb of the murder charges for his wife's death, allowing Cobb to re-enter the United States and reunite with his children. Cobb assembles his team: Eames, an identity forger; Yusuf, a chemist who concocts the powerful sedative needed to stabilize the layers of the shared dream; and Ariadne, a young student architect tasked with designing the labyrinth of the dream landscapes. Saito insists on joining the team as an observer and to assure the job is completed. While planning the inception, Ariadne learns of the guilt Cobb struggles with from Mal's suicide and his separation from his children when he fled the country.

The job is set into motion when Maurice Fischer dies and his son accompanies his father's body from Sydney to Los Angeles. During the flight Cobb sedates Fischer and the team bring him into a three-level shared dream. At each level the member of the team who is "creating" the dream remains while the other team members fall asleep within the dream to travel further down into Fischer's subconscious. The dreamers will then ride a synchronized system of "kicks" (a car diving off a bridge, a fall between hotel rooms, and a collapsing building) back up the levels to wake up.

In the first level (Yusuf's dream) the team successfully abducts Fischer but is attacked by Fischer's militarized subconscious projections which have been trained to hunt and kill extractors. Saito is mortally wounded during the shoot-out. Should Saito or any member of the team die while in the dream, they would be sent into dream limbo, a deep subconscious level where they may lose their grip on reality and be trapped indefinitely.

Eames takes the appearance of Fischer's godfather Peter Browning to suggest that he reconsider his opinion of his father's will. Yusuf remains on the first level driving a van through the streets, while the remaining characters enter Arthur's dream which takes place in a corporate high-rise. Cobb turns Fischer against Browning and persuades him to join the team. They descend to the third dream level, a snowy mountain fortress dreamed by Eames. Yusuf's evasive driving on the first level manifests as distorted gravity effects on the second, forcing Arthur to improvise a kick using an elevator shaft and an avalanche on the third.

Saito succumbs to his wounds, and Cobb's projection of Mal sabotages the plan by shooting Fischer, killing him. Cobb and Ariadne elect to enter limbo to find Fischer and Saito. Cobb confronts his projection of Mal who tries to convince him to stay with her and his kids in limbo. Cobb refuses and confesses that he was responsible for Mal's suicide; to help her escape from limbo during a shared dream experience he used inception to plant the idea that her world wasn't real. Once she had returned to reality she became convinced that she was still dreaming and needed to die in order to wake up. Through his confession, Cobb attains catharsis and chooses to remain in limbo to search for Saito; Eames revives Fischer (with a defibrillator) to bring him back up to the third-level mountain fortress where he enters a safe room and discovers and accepts the idea to split up his father's business empire.

Leaving Cobb behind, the team members escape by riding the kicks back up the levels of the dream. Cobb eventually finds an elderly Saito who has been waiting in limbo for decades in dream time (just a few hours in real time), and the two help each other to remember their arrangement. The team awakens on the flight. Saito arranges for Cobb to get through U.S. customs, and he goes home to reunite with his children. Cobb uses his spinning top to test reality but is distracted by his children before he can see if the top falls or not.

"Inception" managed to do for fans what only the first installment of the "Matrix" series was able to accomplish; satisfyingly represent the concept of parallel dimensions and our ability to move in and out of them at will. That's not to say there aren't other films based on the same concept, but these two tend to stand out as the best examples. While there is some amount of similarity between the plots of the two films, it really isn't fair to compare them to one another. And yet, this is precisely what critics did when "Inception" landed in theaters. The differences (the important ones, at least) are more obvious than not, and by the end of "Inception" we're left feeling that we saw a film much more visceral and emotionally poignant than "The Matrix". Though "Matrix" broke ground with new special effects techniques ("bullet-time" and significant developments in wire-acting), the series just can't stand up to the depth of what "Inception" offers technically and creatively. Besides, who doesn't love a movie with a great twist at the end?

"Inception" also won 4 Oscars (Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects). That can't hurt, either. Very well done, Mr. Nolan.

My Rating: 7.5/10

Content to Caution:
V-3.5 - Fighting (fist fights, gun battles, etc.) and violence throughout.
L-2.5 - No comment.
DU-1 - Some characters drink.
RT-0 - No comment.
H/S-3 - Nolan is in good form here, revving up the intensity and holding us in suspense.
CH-.5 - No comment.
S/N- .25 - Mal wears somewhat revealing clothing.

The "Reel Revelation": "Follow The Melody"

Hear the music.
Find the melody.
Follow it.

Melody is to music what plot is to film. No doubt you can think of several melodies and whistle or hum them to yourself right now. From songs you learned as a child to tunes you might have fallen in love with just recently. You might not be able to reproduce the whole song, but you're almost certain to sing the melody line; the part of the song which demands our attention, the part of the song we follow.

In his book "What to Listen for in Music", 20th Century composer Aaron Copland offers a word of explanation regarding melody:

"A beautiful melody, like a piece of music in its entirety, should be of satisfying proportions. It must give us a sense of completion and of inevitability. To do that, the melodic line will generally be long and flowing, with low and high points of interest and a climatic moment usually near the end." (Chapter 5 - Pg. 42)

Sounds a bit like life, doesn't it? High points, long and flowing... That is precisely what a melody represents within any given piece of music; the very life of the piece. Large-scale works like symphonies, concertos, or operas will make use of several melodies (sometimes hundreds!), but the melodies must always serve to help get the listener from the first downbeat to the final cadence. The very same is true of film, for as a melody serves a piece of music, the plot-line serves the film in the most critical way. The plot can be dramatic or plain, predictable or erratic, but it must get the viewer from the opening credits to the closing credits. It's what we hold on to when we go to see a movie. It's what we follow to make sure we get the most out of our movie going experience. In films like "Inception" a solid plot-line is critical, especially when there are so many changes in reality and dimension. Good film-makers know the secret to cinematic greatness is plot. Actors decorate it, music scores it, editors shore it up, but the plot remains key.

But music is music and film is film. What about life? What is the melody of your life? What is your plot-line? That is, what is the guiding line you watch or follow to make sure you're "in the game" or "with the show"? Here's a short story about a young man who was following the wrong melody line:

"A ruler questioned Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.You know the commandments, "DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER.'"And he said, "All these things I have kept from my youth." When Jesus heard this, He said to him, "One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when he had heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" (Luke 18:18-24)

At first the rich young ruler seems to be on top of things. Not only does he have a solid grasp on the Scriptures, he comes to Jesus in person to ask questions about everlasting life. Well done! But when Jesus challenges him to give his riches away and become His disciple, we see what this young man was really about; money. He tried to live righteously, but try as he might he was bound to follow his finances. He'd made them into the melody of his life, the guiding line by which he'd discern every move and decision. Jesus even used financial language to draw the young ruler to Himself; "you shall have treasure in Heaven". How Jesus' heart must have broke for this young man.

The young ruler couldn't turn away from the distracting melodies of his life and follow Jesus. Can we? We won't have to wait long to find out, for we are faced with the same invitation and decision each day; to turn our eyes away from the stuff we've been following and to go after Jesus and Jesus only.

When you listen to a new piece of music, you're likely to catch on to the melody fairly quickly. Try as you might, you really have no idea where the melody is going to go. It might rise and rise then drop suddenly, or pass through all sorts of dissonances only to transform into a brand new melody in a new key or musical passage. That is the magic of melody; getting to follow after it until it is completed and all is laid to rest. How much more lovely is Jesus, the most beautiful melody of all. And we do not know where He is going to lead us, either. But if we trust Him today and choose to set our sights on Him and Him alone, not only will we have "treasure in Heaven", we'll "enter the Kingdom of Heaven" with the Son of God and enjoy the song of His glory forever and ever.

Hear the music.
Find the melody.
Follow it.

See you tomorrow- E.T.

P.S. - I should like to dedicate tonight's review to my very good friend Michael who has been a reader of the Lenten Film Review from the start and is a welcome companion on the great melody-chase of life.