Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

My wife and I went to see Inception Saturday afternoon. I don’t have much ‘good’ to say about the film other than I liked it. It was way to long, and the film itself seemed intent on providing images of  some college sophomore’s perspective of T.S Eliot’s ” Waste Land .” No one involved with the production seems to have really explored the idea of a nonexistent reality whether one is explicating the various “levels” of a dream, or a second reality where both are a unique phenomena defined by the original experience, the dogmatic exposition, and finally, skepticism. I couldn’t help but think that if the dude who did the screen play for The Book of Eli had written this, it would have been a whole lot better. I did like, for the first time, young Mr. DeCaprio in the lead and his excellent portrayal of a young man who loved a young woman so much he was willing to do anything  to exist in that love. Sadly, it never occurred to anyone involved with the film to move that concept toward the transcendent. Had they done that, they would have produced a film that would have challenged The Book of Eli as the finest film ever made. And, finally having sacrificed my ear in years of “hard service,” I have trouble with films where the background music raises to a crescendo during a crucial explanation, in this case of the dream phenomenon. Add to that the fact the actors inevitably begin to whisper at this time and bingo-bango I miss stuff. So I have to confess I’ll have to buy the film and watch it at home.

More on: Film

Comments are visible to subscribers only. Log in or subscribe to join the conversation.

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts

Related Articles