Do you know that I watched Memento just to get the pattern of Christopher Nolan before I go watch this movie ? Yes I did.. I had already seen 'The Prestige' (I liked it a lot.. without even knowing who the director was at that time and recently even narrated the story to someone.. whom?....hmmm.. I forgot.. signs of aging..) and 'The Dark Knight' (well in this I felt a tad sad that my fav Heath Leadger was the villain..but he did it with elan...)
Now coming back to this Movie..You might have seen too my hyped up versions of review for this movie. You might even want to read the wikipedia before you go and watch it ;). Someone once said to me 'Dont go with anyone else's review...see it for urself to know if you would really like it'. That is true... So listen to others , but don't form any opinions on how it would be and watch it in big screen (the magnanimity of some scenes are better when watched in big screen), its worth the money :)
The story is simple. What would happen if some one can plant an idea in your dream and make you believe it to be real ? For someone to plant an idea in you (means your mind), it need not be a dream isn't.. You can take an inspiration from anyone on this planet, and get an idea from anyone for that matter and try to believe in it and may be even develop on it. Then what is special about an idea in a dream? The visuals. In dream you can live that idea. You can see how it would look like or how it would matter to you if you had that idea developed. An idea is like a negative of a film. Unless you develop it to a photo you wouldn't really know how it came out. Something like that....In dreams, the whole world is your playground. You can even create a whole new world of your known.
So this guy Cobb is an expert extractor of dreams and he is given an special assignment, which would redeem him from his own guilt and go back home. This special assignment is Inception of an Idea in a person (who is an heir to an empire of its own sorts blah blah....you didn't think I would tell you the whole story here, did u?? ). Now this person has his own problems with his dreams, why ? because he has a web of his own memories entangled in his dreams which always interferes with the ones he tries to extract or even the ones he wants to plant , causing him more problems. I know I didn't make any sense here for people who didn't see the movie yet. But once you do, you might understand or so I hope :)
Okay what is this memory interfering with the dreams ? Dreams allow you to do anything you want to. So if you have some memories of someone or someplace it is possible that you might want to use that in your dream and recreate or even make what was there already in a better way and try to relive the memories you love. Is that possible ? Hell yes !! Have you not felt it ? Every one must have had such a dream in life at least once. Generally we never dream of anything without any memories interfering with it. But in this movie Cobb tells Ariadne that one should never include memories in the dream(s). Why ? because if you do, you wouldn't know the difference between a dream and a reality. How very true !!!
I am not sure if you have felt it, but at times when I am too tired of getting up from my sleep in the early mornings, I dream of already having got up, brushed my teeth, had my cup of tea and reading a newspaper and even had my bath :) and suddenly something like an alarm or door knock or anything of that sort will jolt me up and I would wake up with a strong headache and a uncanny feeling of confusion on what to believe ? If I had just taken bath , why am I in bed again ? I would have to sit for a few mins and bring myself to believe that all that was just a dream :). You see this is precisely why you should never use your memory of your house or your surroundings in your dream..You just confused...and after a while , just as they say in the movie, you dream to go back to your reality and wake up to your dream (..the dialogue also says 'who are you to question it otherwise ?' )
There is one more dialogue where they say that you would never know when your dream started... Have you ever thought of that ?? Have you ever felt that you know where your dream exactly started ??? I bet you wouldn't. What a detailed observation and such a very very simple thing !! I was so impressed with so many dialogues in this movie... You always find yourself in the middle of a dream, never at its beginning. There are also times when you would wake up in the middle of a dream and still want it to continue in your subconsciousness. I bet you would have done this lot of times when you have good dreams :) or ever thrillers where you want to know what would happen or if you feel that it would end up bad ,you would want to change the course of it ? Well I have done that many a times. If you can change its course, does it mean that you were dreaming or you were awake enough to direct it ? Confusions and intriguing questions aren't they ? This movie does make you think about all these for sure..
I know I haven't said much about the movie as usual, but I shouldn't be doing that. You should watch it for yourself. The movie 2012 had much CGI work but didn't get it right. I could feel that the images were all fake...it wasn't convincing..but here in this movie some of the scenes are oh-so-magnanimous in terms of its visuals that it just takes your breadth away..and I mean it literally. Ariadne's incredulous architectures in her dreams :) When she gets to know that she can do anything in her dream..she just decides to fold the city road !! whoa!!! Incredible man!!! I think I will just keep going on and on...
Also have you felt about when you really get up from your dream ? You need a jolt, a jolt can be in the form of your death, a fall, an external stimulant like a music or a door knock or an alarm. You wouldn't wake up otherwise from your dream without any of this!! Have you noticed that ? These are some things which we would encounter but never bother to think twice and people like Nolan use it for a movie!!! ennatha solradhu..
Now to actors and actresses... perfect choice of people. I am really happy to see Dicaprio (even though I think this wasn't his best.. I somehow like him more in Shutter Island.. doesn't mean he didn't do well.. I felt he did it better in the other one..that is all) grow so much as an actor. He looks like he is very much at ease doing these. Joseph Gordon Lewitt , the last I saw him was in '500 days of summer' and he is oh-so-different in this...all grown up :). My surprise package was the fraudster guy Tom Hardy.. I like his wit , man! I was wondering where did I see him recently ?? on Googling I found that this was the guy in RockNRolla hmm.. he was cool in that too... :) No wonder I liked him in this. Ken Watanabe , Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, Marion Cotillard have all done their part very well. Kutty roles for Pete Postlethwaite & Michael Caines.
Brilliant photography, Art direction and Direction. Dialogues were also too good. This movie falls in the same genre as Memento (nothing like The Prestige or The Dark Knight). You have to concentrate to really understand the 'layers'. A simple idea (about a dream) planted in Nolan's mind has taken the shape of this extraordinary and visually appealing movie. A very very brilliant effort. And definitely a must watch. The end is as usual a big question mark , but I guess only for those who wants to get confused about it. I strictly want to go with the fact that Cobb is in a Limbo..I wouldn't accept anything else. :) There...I gave you a spoiler ;)
Happy Watching!!!
