For some time now, I've been drawn to films that tend to play with viewers' heads. I affectionately refer to these films as "mind fucks." They tend to stay with me sometimes for quite awhile after the initial viewing. I seem to be enjoying these films more and more--maybe it's an age thing, I don't know.
This
week's film is one of those. I don't know how I missed it in theaters
when it was originally released fifteen years ago. It looked like one I
would have enjoyed--I guess a part of me has always enjoyed these kinds
of movies. I recently saw a cheap, used copy on blu-ray and picked it
up. I like the cast, I like the director, I figured I would enjoy it.
Sadly, the disc wouldn't load properly in my player, but I was able to
find it on a streaming service that I actually subscribe to. (I was
able to watch the bonus disc with extra features which were quite
enjoyable.)
This
film is such a mind fuck, I find it hard to describe. The basic
premise centers around planting an idea in someone's subconscious mind
while they're dreaming. When the person wakes up, they remember this
idea and, thinking they dreamed it on their own, act acccordingly. The
part of the movie that really fascinates me is the idea of being able to
enter someone else's subconscious and actually be a part of their
dream. As someone who finds dreams themselves to be equally fascinating
I've often wondered if this phenomenon has ever occurred accidentally.
When someone shows up in my dream--especially if it's one in which I
remember certain details and can't seem to forget it--I wonder if that
person had the same dream, possibly at the same time. If I go off
somewhere else within the dream and maybe meet someone else, does the
person I was dreaming about go off on their own subconscious journey
that they'll also remember when they awake, but I'll never witness
because I went off on my own path? And where did the other person I'm
meeting just come from? Will they remember it when they wake up along
with our meeting? What if our dreams are interconnected with the dreams
of everyone we know?
(At this point, I want it noted that I was stone cold sober when I wrote the above paragraph.)
Written
and directed by Christopher Nolan (a man who sems to direct a lot of
mind fucks), the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a thief who normally
enters peoples' dreams in order to steal corporate secrets. This time
he's leading a team to plant an idea in someone's dream in order to
clear up his sketchy past and get home to his children. Also in the
cast are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, Elliott
(then Ellen) Page, Tom Hardy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine, and Cillian
Murphy (because, y'know... Christopher Nolan wrote and directed it).
From 2010, I'm recommending with much enthusiasm, Inception. If you've never seen it, it is available on Netflix until the 28th of this month.
(Fun fact: Gordon-Levitt, Cotillard, Hardy, Caine, and Murphy all went on to appear in Nolan's next film, The Dark Knight Rises--the third installment of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Watanabe also appeared in the first installment, Batman Begins. Caine and Murphy, of course, appeared in all three films of the series.)
Until
next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember
that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for
you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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