Inception

I can't remember the last time I watched Inception, maybe a year or two after it originally came out so it's been about 15 years.  I remember absolutely loving it as I saw it in theaters two times and saw it at home probably three more times.  After all these years, I'd say this movie doesn't only hold up but I appreciate it even more.  One of the experiences that was unique to this viewing was showing it to my fiance as it was was her first time seeing it and she said she was so confused she couldn't even remember how the movie started, which I remember people saying back in the day how much they found the movie confusing so I'm sure some felt the same about not knowing where it started which is ironic because of how the film talks about how in dreams you generally don't remember how you got to where the dream picks up.

One thing I always found interesting was Chris Nolan's choice to name the protagonist of Inception Cobb, sharing the same name as one of the main characters in his debut feature film Following.  It feels like a deliberate choice and one I've scratched my head over for years.  Following suggests that the protagonist represents Chris Nolan and Cobb is who the protagonist studies and maybe even wants to be and maybe that's the same here which is interesting because choosing Leonardo DiCaprio is an odd pick for this considering the way Nolan styles his look is very similar.  I know this is going more meta than just talking about Inception but I am curious why he reused a name as specific as Cobb?  

Maybe like how Following had a subtext I felt with its connection to filmmaking and storytelling with the story of the writer researching for his work, maybe Inception serves as a redo of making a connection between a unique story and the art of filmmaking but at a greater scale.  This reminds me of one of the theories I remember hearing about when Inception came out, of how the sequence of shared dreams with Inception and extraction operations are an allegory for filmmaking.  The biggest implication seen for this is how the first shot of the dream sequence for the inception job is an almost direct callback to the first shot of The Dark Knight, Nolan's previous film before Inception and arguably his most popular film.  Now this theory goes where each of the members of Cobb's team represent one of the main production departments for a film.  Cobb is seen as the director/writer as he is the one leading each step of the job.  Arthur is seen as the assistant director and or crew as he helps the director with helping the job go smoothly.  Saito is the theater company and distributor as he helped fund the job to allow them to carry it out especially with owning the airline they used to make it happen.  Yusef is the production company that's used for getting the equipment in order to do the job.  Eames was the actor who played the part of Fischer's godfather to trick him into accepting what they were incepting to him.  Ariadne serves as the set designer and cinematographer who created the world the dreams are built around.  And with all that said, Fischer is the audience.  At least that's how I remember that theory but I'd say now that's how I feel in general with it. 

Another thing that was different in how I saw this movie was with my life experiences with grief and losing my father.  This made the scene with Fischer seeing his father in the dream be so much more impactful as it made me think of the dreams I have from time to time where I see my father.  Usually waking up is the most heartbreaking part because grief to me is missing someone you can never see again and being reminded of that so directly and having to remember after having this vivid experience with them makes it almost feel like losing them over again which is what happens in the dream Fischer had.  

There's only one logic loophole that bugged me while watching the movie.  I kept thinking while they were in the no gravity moments of the first and second level of the dreams, how do they still have gravity in the third level?  This is never explained in the film; it's just there and you have to accept it.  Of course upon initial viewing I didn't think about this but seeing it again now it feels like Nolan had the idea for the great no gravity effects seen in the hotel on the second dream level and wanted those with the explanation of the dream levels interacting with each other but it did feel pretty lacking to not explain this for why the third level wasn't affected as well.  They were in Eames' dream on the third level and he was suspended without gravity too while asleep in the second level.  But nothing is perfect and so this is something I'd always suspend my belief for because the rest of the movie is just too much of a masterpiece to let something so small take away from it.  From the music which I've listened to so much in my life outside of watching the film, the acting which is on point as to be expected with Nolan's films, especially from this point forward.  His directing is at its peak with the shot choice and putting everything together with one of the best stories he's written and even the cinematography is better in this film, giving more power to the contrasts with the dramatic lighting that made the dreams feel more subtly stylized than how I felt when watch the Dark Knight making me appreciate his lighting more in his Batman films in appreciating the realism presented giving it more of a realistic vibe which I feel adds to my love of The Dark Knight as being one of the most realistic superhero comic book movies ever.  

But with returning to Inception, I can't help but just sit in awe of how I went so long since rewatching this film.  It is such a powerful work of art, even with its imperfections, where it is perfect, it outshines those flaws and will always be a top recommended movie for anyone who doesn't hate movies.