[Ghoulish Delight]

Our anniversary gift to ourselves was Inception.

I liked it a lot, but didn't love it. So much to say. I've read most of the thread, I'll try to keep things brief.

1) Regarding dream vs. not dream, I have no doubt that Nolan purposely made it interpretable. I choose to interpret it as NOT a dream at base level because I find it more interesting to ponder in that context. Unfortunately that interpretation doesn't allow me to ignore some of the plot holes, but I'm still more intrigued by the non-dream version WITH plot holes than the dream version wtihout.

2) Like everyone, I've spent a lot of time mulling over the recurring shot in which Cobb can't see his childrens' face. It was CLEARLY intended to be the single most dream-like sequence in the entire film, putting aside the blatant out-of-whack physics scenes. And clearly intended to be the single biggest "clue" pointing to the whole thing being a dream. However, what I've just come up with is this: Like the people in Yousef's basement, Cobb has spent too much time under and therefore can no longer dream without the technology (as he explicitly stated). And, as the weird old guy assisting Yousef said, for such people the dreaming IS their reality, real life becomes unreal. Thus, Cobb's real life memories have become like his dreams and vice versa. BOOM!

3) The main thing that's keeping me from really loving this movie is pace. Specifically, after all the setup about the time shift that happens between levels, I intensely disliked the payoff. I understand that, because of the unexpected variable of Scarecrow's security things got hurried from level 1 on, but even so, while according to the setup each level should have felt slower and less hurried than the last, the exact opposite was true. It became more and more frantic each level down. I understand WHY, and understand that it was because of the sudden need for speed due to the unforeseen, and understand that by showing the van falling in super slow motion was supposed to illustrate the time shift, but it just didn't work for me. I would have like to see Nolan figure out a way to actually slow the pace down at each level while still communicating the urgency. Not that I have the answer for how to do it, but that's the element that was missing for me.

4. While I choose not to look at it as being a dream from the beginning, I AM willing to fall on the side of it being a dream by the end. My biggest clue for that...limbo turned out to be so easy to solve apparently. I mean, it was set up as the worst of all possible fates...but eh, Cobb just kinda went in and saved both the Scarecrow and Saito. I mean, they tried to make it look like he had struggled and worn himself out, but so what? He still did it, and they didn't SHOW much struggle. Which makes me think...he didn't actually do it. He just convinced himself he did, meanwhile he's still stuck deep down, and possibly happier for it.

5. Possibly explained away with the above, but I was bugged by the lose definitions of how to get in an out of limbo. Like, when was it established that you could either die...or just kinda go one more level down? Seems like an odd pair of methods. Why is 4 levels enough to get to limbo? And why, if dying in the "normal" dream was so dangerous because of the sedation, why was dying for Scarecrow and Juno okay in limbo?



There's something about the way Nolan handles the maze-like complexities in both Inception and Dark Knight doesn't click with me. I think the best I can summarize it as is that he puts too much into the cleverness and not enough into the execution, pacing, and storytelling. I appreciate the cleverness but find myself wishing it were presented differently.