filmland / By Charlie Myers

Très Jolie

What does seem clear is that beneath the complicated plot twists there is a straightforward story driving the narrative. The central character, Cobb (DiCaprio), who has been accused of killing his wife Mal (Cotillard), has fled the States and cannot return. All he really wants is to go home to his two children.

It’s the nature of his path back that leads to the many layers of this beautifully accomplished film. He can’t go home until his name is cleared. A powerful person who can accomplish that (Saito, played by Ken Watanabe) won’t make the call until Cobb, who specializes in entering people’s dreams and stealing information, implants an idea into the mind of a rival’s son (Cillian Murphy).

But the process of inception involves going deeper than a dream, and in each level down, the whole construct becomes more unstable. Cobb cannot design the dreams because Mal lurks in his subconscious. Is he stable enough to lead his team through this task or will his projection of Mal prevent him from seeing clearly?

Certainly, the notion that reality and dream are often indistinguishable is not new. In 1635, Spanish playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca wrote Life Is a Dream, which utilizes this very premise. Director Christopher Nolan’s accomplishment is to embed this concept into an action/heist film without dumbing-down its intellectual potential.

What I noticed this time through is that what grounds the film is the cool and sane presence of the young student Ariadne (Ellen Page), who is a genius with dream architecture. Like her namesake, she is there to help guide Cobb out of the labyrinth that is his own creation.

Does Cobb make it home? Well, the final image, a spinning top on a table, is the only clue you will get. I can say that the film was even more exhilarating the second time around. Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action throughout. 148m. At the Broadway, Mill Creek, Minor and the Fortuna.

Continuing

1 2 3 4 5 NEXT PAGE >SHARE