INCEPTION (USA/UK 2010) ****
Directed by Christopher Nolan

I would like to think that I helped Toronto discover Christopher Nolan through Britpics, a week of British film that I helped programmed some 10 years back.  Britpics brought the unknown Nolan’s impressive black-and-white, dark drama FOLLOWING to Toronto.  That was the only chance of seeing that film here on the large screen.

Known for his dark view on any subject, Nolan went on the make bigger and bigger movies, all still dark in nature from THE PRESTIGE to his most successful THE DARK KNIGHT.  INCEPTION introduces the art of entering into dreams and manipulating data, an intriguing subject that resides in the darkest recesses of the mind.  As far as narrative and story-telling goes, it is a complete mess at times, but Nolan occasionally brings things together in a sort of all out undisciplined Hollywood blockbuster movie-making gone mad, a sort of James Bond meets MEMENTO, but the film deserving an above average rating for the risks Nolan takes and for the great cinematic effects (the giant mirrors reflecting the sights of Paris), CGI and non CGI (the domino effect crumbling buildings) included.

The central character in INCEPTION is an extractor by the name of Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), who specializes in subconscious security.  In INCEPTION, Cobb is hired by a Japanese businessman (Ken Watanabe) to get vital information from an industrialist’s (Cillian Murphy) dream.  But when he enters others’ dreams, his troubled wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard) keeps popping up, jeopardizing the whole enterprise.  Nolan thickens the plot with many layers, just as the characters have to dream in a dream up to multiple layers.  Confusing?  The film is a bit at the start, but Nolan is an excellent story-teller and craftsman.

But what is messy is the terribly confusing start, though it makes sense only towards the second half of the film.  The story is relatively simple, but Nolan chooses to have his audience think a lot, resulting in a film requiring quit a bit of concentration.  The James Bond type antics (the siege of the fortress facility with armies of men on skis and snowmobiles) are really unnecessary and add no suspense or kick to the film, just dragging it on past the 2-hour mark.

But what works marvellously is Nolan’s play on reality and non-reality, not done for a long time since the MATRIX films.  The use of the totem is an especially ingenious tool, to tell the characters whether what is happening is real or a dream.  The hiding of a totem by Cobb’s wife in the safe is a brilliant twist in one subplot.

Nolan’s clever inside joke involves the use of the song “Je ne Regret Rien,” to signal the awakening of the characters from their dreams.  The character of Cobb’s wife is played by Marion Cotillard who won her Oscar playing Edith Piaf who frequently sings this song.

With superb performances by an all-star US and British cast that includes Ellen Page from Juno and Tom Hardy from Bronson, Nolan’s film engages whether on the dramatic level, cinematic or action/fantasy level.  The excellent musical score by Hans Zimmer must be mentioned.  INCEPTION is an adult summer blockbuster movie for the serious moviegoer.