Friday’s release of the psycho-action-drama-thriller
“Inception” is shrouded in narrative mystery. Still, someone should be
able to explain what it’s about, right? Right? “Please don’t ask any
questions,” pleads actress
Lucky for
in its marketing department, which is doing a pretty good job of not
giving away the plot to a movie it doesn’t seem to understand — or, at
least, know how to describe. Despite this, and a concept that is
distinctly un-
(because it apparently requires more than 10 words to explain),
“Inception” is poised to become one of the bigger hits in a summer that
could use a few more, and is being advertised via effects-heavy
trailers and oblique references. Clearly, narrative is not what the
studio is trying to sell. And that alone may make it the most
intriguing film to come along all year.
“I’ve been interested in dreams my whole life,” said director
Roughly speaking, the Leonardo DiCaprio headliner involves a group of
dream “extractors” who steal secrets for their clients from unconscious
others. Charged instead with implanting an idea, they wind up crossing
multiple, overlapping realities (or unrealities) that were shot in six
different locales, including Tangier and Calgary.
“I think, really, for me the primary interest in
dreams and in making this film was this notion that when you’re asleep,
you create an entire world,” Nolan said. “It’s something I found
fascinating.”
Co-starring Marion Cotillard,
credit,” she said. “People do like to be challenged. One of the things
I love about this film is that if you’re the kind of person who wants
to really think about a film — the intricacies of the plot, and how the
technology works, the dream levels — you can do that. But there’s also
an enormous amount of fun and action and a great love story.”
Besides, any trailer that would adequately explain
the story would be 15 minutes long. “It’s certainly difficult to
balance marketing a film and wanting to keep it fresh for the
audience,” Nolan said. “My most enjoyable moviegoing experiences have
been going to see something where you don’t know everything about it,
you don’t know every plot turn. I want to be surprised and entertained
by a movie, and that’s what we’re trying to do. But obviously, we also
have to sell the film.”
DiCaprio, who plays
chief infiltrator of the unconscious, admires Nolan’s nerve. “Few
directors in this industry would pitch to a studio a multilayered, at
times existential, high-action, high-drama surreal film that’s sort of
locked in his mind, and get the opportunity to do that. And it’s a
testament to the work he’s done in the past, like ‘Memento’ and
‘Insomnia.’ He’s able to portray these highly complicated plot
structures and get the audience fully engaged in the process.”
Never mind that “Memento” was virtually an indie
release and “Insomnia” was a remake: It’s “The Dark Knight” — No. 3
among all-time domestic moneymakers — that has given Nolan his clout
and has whipped up so much anticipation for “Inception.” The director
may be as much an attraction as any of his stars, including DiCaprio,
who has been making solidly profitable movies, if not exactly the type,
at least recently, that pop stars are made of.
“I don’t really question that,” DiCaprio said. He
picks a script, he said, “if I feel I can be of service to the role,
and it emotionally engages me and, obviously, if I feel the director
has the capacity to pull off the ambitious nature of whatever they’re
trying to do. I guess a lot of my films have been more serious in tone,
but that’s something I don’t try to deny.
“I’m a very fortunate person,” he adds. “I get to
choose the movies I want to do. I have a lot of friends in this
industry who don’t get to do that. I grew up in L.A., I have a lot of
friends who are actors and so I realize every day how lucky I am to
have that opportunity. So while I’m here, I’m going to do exactly what
I want.”
Among the things he seems to want to do is
war movie “Body of Lies,” what DiCaprio is after is what Nolan has
given him — the opportunity to be interesting. “I’ve tried to work with
the best directors I can, and these types of films, which are
psychologically dark at times, I find extremely exciting to do.
“There’s nothing more boring,” he added, “than to
show up on set and say a line and know your character means exactly
what he says.”
———
THESE FILMS ARE THE STUFF THAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF
“The dream remains the epitome of the fantastic in film,” wrote French critic
matched to manipulate the perceptive power of the human mind.
Filmmakers have always known this and, like
“The Wizard of Oz” (1939) — Not to burst anyone’s
bubble, but Dorothy does get a smack on the head and eventually wakes
up back in her own bedroom. In the meantime, the people from her life
in
“Spellbound” (1945) — Classic Hitchcock thriller starring
sequence designed by Salvador Dali that includes eyes, curtains,
scissors, blank playing cards, a man with no face and a man falling off
a building. Out of this, somehow, the characters solve a murder.
“8 1/2” (1963) — Federico Fellini’s masterpiece of
introspection (and musings about his own genius) chronicles the agonies
and exasperations of a film director named Guido, who, in trying to
sort out his life and art, retraces his memories and dreams.
“A Nightmare on
“Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams” (1990) — Image-driven
series of vignettes based on the fabled Japanese director’s own dreams.
It features a turn by
“Arizona Dream” (1993) — Underappreciated black comedy from
“In Dreams” (1999) —
———
(c) 2010, Newsday.
Visit Newsday online at http://www.newsday.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
