Harish, Shekar and Karthick are seated in their cubicle and it is a typical Monday morning. As the day work kicks in, they begin the week with an enthusiastic engaging discussion on Inception…..
[ SPOILERS AHEAD ].
Movie by Christopher Nolan
Cast : Leonardo DiCaprio, Gordon Levitt, Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Michael Caine, Tom hardy, Ken Watanabe, Dileep Rao, Cillian Murphy.
Kids : Magnus Nolan, Claire Geare, Taylor Geare, Johnathan Geare
Inception Poster
[Credits: http://trentwalton.com/%5D
Harish : Hey Guys..
Shekar : Hi
Karthick : Hi.
Harish : So, It is going to be Inception which will set the inception of cubicle talkies.
Karthick : Have you been watching Gundaa?? You have come up with some cool way to start our day 😛
Shekar : ha ha. Don’t under estimate Gundaa.. It is rated 7.7 in imdb..
Karthick : Don’t tell me… is it rated that high??
Shekar: Guys… don’t talk about Gundaa when I still have the ‘Inception’ hangover.
Harish : When I went to watch Inception, I saw a lot of guys excited and some disappointed. The excited ones had tickets in their hand. The ones who did not get tickets were really disappointed. It has been running house full here for quite some time.
Shekar : This is one movie which sure puts the critic and reviewer in a very vulnerable position. This movie would let us critique but would never give us the authority or command to claim we have understood it completely.
Harish : Yes. Agreed.
Karthick : True. The Creation is powerful than the creator and it is very true in Inception’s case.
Shekar : The plot keeps running in my head… Inception is about a thief, Dom Cobb, skilled at extracting ideas from the subconscious through dreams. He is given his toughest job till date… to plant an idea into the subconscious, Inception. At a certain level, it also about how he has to conquer his inner daemons to complete this tough assignment. A typical Nolan movie…. parallel events taking place… and scenes inter-mingled within the other to keep the viewer engaged. Phew… I had to track each level with a number and at some point even got confused whose dream a particular level was..
Karthick : Like Ariadne asks at one point “Whose subconscious are we going into?”
Harish : Yes. That’s precisely why the question was raised in the scene. To make the audience aware of the subject and other dreamers. Those are “valuable hints”.
Shekar : The movie starts off with a failed attempt at dream extraction involving two levels of dreams (one dream within another). COBOL Corporation had given Cobb and his team, the task of extracting Saito’s secrets. Saito, aware of this, uses this situation to audition Cobb and his team. While Cobb and Arthur are planning their escape, Saito offers Cobb an opportunity to go back home and be with his kids. Cobb and his team take up the job and plan an Inception on Fischer, the only son of the owner/head of Energy giant which controls the Global Energy market. Then on, the story is all about how they take Fischer deep into his subconscious, the obstacles they hit on the way, the decisions made.
How cobb overcomes his personal struggle, how Ariadne helps them in a very crucial moment and then on how the inception happens. All this is done in a very dramatic fashion showing the varying time dilation at various layers of the dream.
Karthick : I kind of liked the concept here. Using the dream, the thieves plant an idea in Fischer’s mind…. an idea that will dismantle the empire his father built. Though anti-monopolistic sentiments are raised, it is primarily Saito’s selfishness and his company’s inability to compete. A very true scenario in a globalized market scenario where the small vendors and local shops get bogged down by giants. People who have been part of the supply chain for so long suddenly find themselves insignificant and run out of scope due to global giants, who penetrate every level of society, from regional to international.
Harish : A Valid point. Saito tries to justify himself stating anti-monopolistic sentiments. So, in the initial phase, Cobb’s team plans and understands that for inception, they have to really plant the idea deep enough to make the subject believe that the idea was original.
Karthick : Yes. It is explained when Arthur talks about “elephants” in the helicopter with Saito. The intrinsic difficulty with inception is to make the subject believe it is his original idea. At the same time, it is important to remember their architect Nash had tried to disclose information about COBOL engineering to Saito. Now, Nash is gone for he has betrayed every one, including Cobb’s team and the COBOL corporation. They need a new architect for Inception, but Cobb who himself was an architect can’t do it because of his long hidden daemons deep inside his mind.
Shekar : Cobb also points out that they need a forger to do Inception. So they meet Eames and Yusuf in Mombasa. Eames is an expert Forger who has a negative opinion about Inception and strongly believes it is not plausible. Yusuf is a chemist who prepares sedatives for the dreamers.
Harish : The guys from COBOL have been following Cobb. While Cobb and Eames are conversing in a bar, Eames points to them as “tails”. Then a mind boggling chase scene follows, which is closely unreal but debatable.
Shekar : Saito comes in time to save Cobb. There is an interesting piece of dialogue between Eames and Cobb there…When Cobb whistles to signal Eames, Eames questions “Is this your way to get off a tail…” referring to Saito. Cobb wittingly replies, “Just another tail.” This shows Saito is quite a micro management guy who keeps a close watch on his “investments”.
Karthick : The main essence of the movie is brought out in Yusuf’s place when a question is asked “They all wake up to sleep??”. The experienced old man replies “They all sleep to be woken up. Any way, who are you to question their reality??”. This explains the highly subjective nature of reality. Reality is a perceived notion.
Shekar : This is where Nolan stands out. He takes up a profound subject and spins it in a way where the common man can question and debate over it. The team is ready and they come up with the idea to be planted into Fischer’s subconscious. The characters are established and roles clarified.
Ariadne, the architect.
Cobb, Arthur – Dreamers
Eames – Forger
Saito – tourist.
Karthick : Just to reiterate, By now the rules of Inception are set and roles defined.
1. The instrument helps them share dreams and invade the subconscious of a particular subject.
2. They dream lucidly even under sedation.That is why they are able to remember what they have to do in the dream.
3. The Dreamer dreams the Location, the subject whose subconscious is invaded populates. The device helps them bring in the subject right after the dreamer has dreamed the location. The subject would then populate. The other dreamers pretend to be the subconscious projections of the subject and they can remain safe as long as the subject doesn’t doubt them. The consequences can be dangerous.
4. The other dreamers are trained to restrain their subconscious from populating the dream and make sure there are no projections of their subconscious in the dream of main subject. But, Cobb is unable to control Mal being projected.
5. The Location and levels are designed as mazes. Mazes define the topology. On top of which the dream world is constructed. It helps the dreamer know the routes and paths to traverse the dream.
6. Killed in a dream will wake you up in the layer above. But if you are under sedation, you might be stuck in limbo if killed in the dream and while consciousness comes back, you might not be sane enough to appreciate reality.
7. Standing by Sigmund Freud, the experience in reality passes down to the dream levels below and how below depends on the situation and subject.
8. One does not use the device to go into Limbo.
9. Time is slowed down as the dreamers go deeper and deeper. Actually it is an illusion as the brain works faster in dreams.
10. Every step below in the dream takes the dreamers and subject closer and deeper into their subconscious.
11. The kick is used to pull the dreamer from the dream world and totem helps the dreamer keep track of reality.
12. Limbo is an reconstructed dream space and it would contain the left overs of any one of the dreamer who had been there before.
To Do an Inception, They need a team with various skill set.
1. Architect : One who designs the maze and the dream world
2. Dreamer : Dreamer is one who would dream the place and into whose world the subject is brought into.
3. Projections : These are the thoughts / images/ ideas buried into dreamer’s subconscious. In a way, the ideas, thoughts personified.
4. Forger : One who forges identity. The forger has to be an expert in learning the mannerisms and style of the person he is impersonating. The forged person’s original identity can be reflected in a mirror.
Harish : A random thought. Don’t the roles in Inception resemble those in our office?? Imagine an engineering project on Fischer. Saito like is the customer, Cobb is the Software Architect, Arthur and Eames are the developers. And Ariadne is the intern.
Shekar : I thought, Ariadne would be the program manager since she guides Dom Cobb and knows his secret and she designs the maze.
Karthick : Just because she has got nothing much to do, you can’t make her the program manager!!!
Shekar : ha ha..
Harish : Coming back to Inception, Nolan yet again demonstrates good balance between art and commercial cinema and I would say he has succeeded in it. Nolan’s hand is evident through out. In the first few minutes, Nolan ensures the characters are brought in and necessary depth of each character unfold. The objective is set and the challenge is discovered. Few questions and doubts are intentionally raised and the journey kicks in…
Karthick : Like a Chess opening. The stage is set, control is established and then you go on the ride.
Shekar : Exactly. For Nolan knows exactly what his audience should think at each point.
Karthick : That’s a real talent.
Harish : No wonder he had worked on the film script for a decade. His hard work is evident from the seamless story telling. The screenplay’s effect kicks in when they start the Inception.
Shekar : One interesting and witty dialogue is where Saito tells that he had purchased an entire Aircraft carrier to perform the Inception. He also conspires to put Fischer’s private jet into maintenance. Ken Watanabe [Saito] rocks…
Karthick : Few important points to consider before getting on to the Inception process is the troubled relationship between Mal and Cobb, relationship between Cobb and his father ( played by Michael Caine ), the architecture tutorial by Arthur to Ariadne and Ariadne’s imprudent interference into Cobb’s subconscious.
Shekar : Yes, Cobb and Mal have experimented a lot together and have spent quite a life time in limbo. Cobb realized that Mal refused to get back to reality. So, Cobb does his first Inception on Mal with a simple idea that “Her world is not real”. This idea grows like a virus and possesses her even after she wakes up in reality. There is a dramatic train scene where the train runs over them. This has been shot brilliantly.
Harish : Yes, that is quite a scene and the dialogue about waiting for a train underscores Nolan’s brilliant script writing. Abstruse yet touches the intellect. So, once back in reality Mal commits suicide, thinking her world is not real. Cobb is suspected for her death and he goes on the run to escape law.
Karthick : It can also be perceived as his guilt which is chasing him. It is his guilt that bursts out Mal’s projections out of Cobb’s subconscious and proving to be a major obstacle in all his work. So, he intentionally keeps out of architecting mazes so that he can conceal the dream space from Mal (his projection).
Harish : When it comes to the father son relationship between Cobb and Prof.Miles, the one and only scene in Paris succeeds in bringing out that guilt ridden mind of both the son and father. The father defends he didn’t want his son to be a thief and Cobb defends that he tried applying what his father taught in a “whole lot of legitimate ways.” Both are just defending, but they just can’t see eye to eye while they speak those words.
Shekar : Good observation. Prof. Miles introduces Ariadne to Cobb. But, Ariadne is quite a talented student and she picks up the art just like that. She probes more deeper into Cobb’s mind and figures out that he has got some serious problems.
Karthick : An interesting bit of trivia, the main character names have significance. Especially Ariadne. Ariadne is a character from Greek myth who freed Theseus out of Cretan labyrinth or could stand for Hadrian, the emperor who build large architectural places for treating sick through dreams. And Dom means good. Mal [ homonym for Moll in french ] means bad. Cobb is the name of a character in Nolan’s first film “Following”.
Harish : Interesting. Ariadne imprudently gets into Cobb’s subconscious and figures out his haunting memories. He dreams to keep the memory of Mal alive. Ariadne, having figured out Cobb’s issues, insists that either she come along with him to do the inception or let the team know about his problem. Cobb needs a support. Some one whom he can trust and some one to help him realize that Mal is a projection. So, Ariadne is taken into the Inception team.
Shekar : And about the architecture tutorials to Ariadne… The most interesting thing being Penrose stairs and how she applies that tactfully later in the hotel location set up is quite a thing to be noted.
Karthick : Yes, Penrose staircase is an interesting ideology. Escher is a famous artist and that kind of alternate reality with skewed geometrical and gravitational ideas is called lithography. Nolan has made quite a good use of those crazy ideas since the subject is about dreams. He has made sure that it does not fall into fantasy category to make it realistic. Quite an achievement.
Harish : Certainly. The screenplay is very engaging. You wink and you miss the story. It is essential that we keep a close watch. Right from why it rains in level 1 in Yusuf’s dream to why it is cold in snow fortress layer and why Cobb is lying on a beach in the limbo. The zero gravity is a needed exaggeration which gives room for holding the audience in awe with the beautifully choreographed stunts. To explain just the few,
1. It rains in Yusuf’s dream because he drinks champagne before getting onto the dream in plane and he has an urge to pee
2. There is zero gravity in Arthur’s dream as the van they are traveling in the level above is in free fall.
3. Due to relativistic effects, the zero gravity is nullified in level three where in Eames dream, they are in snow covered fortress where the “SCENE OF CRIME IS SET.”
4. In fourth layer, Ariadne goes into Cobb’s memories along with him to save Fischer and it gives Cobb a chance to kill his regret and guilt.
5. Saito, having died in the snow fortress, has spent quite some time in Limbo and that explains why he is old. Cobb joins him after he fails to get the kick to wake up in the layers below and is drowned in the level 1 [Yusuf’s dream where the van is drowning into the river.]
Karthick : Interesting thing which many people observed is the main scene of crime where the inception is done. Fischer converses with his father in the hospital and this scene bears similarity to the “Death bed scene” in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001 – A space odyssey”.
Shekar : The synchronized kicks are required to wake them all simultaneously up above and in the plane at last. Since Cobb and Saito are in Limbo, they wake up much later after they have taken a leap of faith in their dreams to kill themselves to be young men together again. Though it is not shown explicitly it is implicit when Saito picks up the revolver towards the end.
Harish : Perfect. That gives enough hints that they wake up in reality in the plane. At least logical enough. In any ways, who are we to question any body’s opinion of reality…
Karthick : True. With respect to aspects of Camera and Photography too, there is total discipline. It’s not only inspirational but mesmerizing. The Visuals are powerful and guess what, Nolan has tried his best to create the visuals on screen rather than simply use Visual effects and 3D for it. In an interview with Paul Franklin [Visual effects supervisor] , I got to know that there are around 500 VFX Shots which is very less as per the current day standards where such movies have around 1500 VFX Shots. Some most mind blowing scenes like blowing up the snow fortress is shot using a miniature. And, it seems that the architecture for the dream world continuously evolved as the story was shot.
Shekar: Yet another cool trivia. Ariadne’s hair was tied tightly in the hotel scene in level 2 of the dream to avoid unnecessary hassles in bothering about how her hair would spin in a zero gravity scenario.
Harish : All the stunt scenes, (1) the bike and van chase in level 1, (2) zero gravity stunt scenes in level 2, (3) snow fortress fight scene in level 3, (4) the emotional fight with in level 4, keep the audience glued to their seats.
Karthick : Some people compare the stunt scene in level 2 [ hotel ] with the visual technique used in the 1951 film Royal Wedding
Shekar : But If we closely look at it, in Royal wedding, the camera is still and made sure it is always parallel to the base of the building thereby creating the necessary illusion of gravitational shifts congruous to the gyrational effect of the location/set.
Karthick : In Inception, you have the camera continuously in motion with in the zero gravity set up and it continues to follow the characters in to the room. So, that shows the plan and perfect execution.
Harish : Some more interesting camera work include, In the beginning when ever the Watch is shown, the time slowing down and accelerating defines the relativity of time observed in reality and different levels of dreams.
Karthick : And yes, the most interesting thing I observed was, they have used mostly steady cams which will allow the camera person to follow through with the Characters. By that I mean, there are not much fixed shots which is generally used in movies which need a dramatic touch. Here, the camera movement justifies the thrilling nature of the film.
Shekar: Yes, two particular scenes in particular were stunning. One when Ariadne pulls up two mirrors, opposite to each another, and creates an illusion of infinite reflection in the mirror. And then breaks through the mirror at will to create a similar repeatedly pillared walk way.
Karthick : I wonder how the camera was positioned to track and take the shot when they show the infinite reflection. In similar lines, the final scene where they show Eames forging out of Mr.Browning, just behind Fischer, is a single shot. I just can’t imagine how they shot it. Similarly, in particular scene, Saito, Eames and the blond beauty are all shown together in the lift in level 2 [ Hotel ].
Harish : Looking at stunts, though the hotel stunt in zero gravity is much spoken about, the stunt in snow fortress was as well very striking. The way Eames skies over and attacks them is a real fun to watch. Real adventure.
Karthick : And, lets not forget, they really ran a train like big vehicle on the road to film the stunt in level 1, Yusuf’s dream. [ Train in Level 1 – Behind the scenes]
Shekar : [ After watching the video ] I am not sure if it is a train but surely not a vehicle to be run on a road…
Karthick : One specific thing, that bothers me is the significance of 528491.
Shekar : That’s a prime number
Harish : Interesting..I found this page for those who didn’t understand the significance of it. May be there is no significance.
Karthick : Crazy numbers. And some more facts about the device they use can be found here . There is a comic prologue to Inception called “Inception : The Cobol job” which leads to Saito.
Harish : There are quite some movies which are tangential in thought and execution to Inception. The first and foremost is
“Lost highway” by David Lynch,
“Last year in Mariendabad” – A french new wave film [ But Nolan claims he watched that movie only after Inception was done.
There is a less known Independent film called “Ink” Which touches on the same subject.
To some extent, it also looks congruous to Matrix when it talks about different worlds and alternate realities. Mr.Nobody also puts up a equally good show when it talks about the various possibilities and alternate realities. Shutter Island also takes the viewer into a limbo of reality and perceived reality but unlike Inception, it takes a more definitive stand on the subject’s state at the end.
Karthick : Hmm..Interesting catch. Ink is a recommended watch. I liked the film. And I stumbled upon one more very good trivia. Charles and Eames are names of guys who made promotional movies for IBM in it’s early years. May be as a way to pay tribute to them, Nolan had named his characters that way and IBM is honored [ !!! really…Any relation to the monopolistic ideas discussed] by giving COBOL corporation as one of the companies’ name. IBM founded COBOL programming language.
Shekar : Nice Catch… Interestingly we haven’t spoken about Music in detail. Edith Piaf’s “Je ne regrette rien” is so deep and profound that it signifies some thing more than just a countdown tune for waking up, May be it has the enigma to wake you up from what ever dream you are into or may be it has the ability to shift you from reality to a dream world of yours.
Karthick : Wonderful. Can’t agree more. It is even said that the music was composed in parallel while the movie was shot.
Harish : Wow, without even seeing the movie with the musician’s imagination.
Karthick : Yes, in fact Zimmer read “Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas Hofstadter for inspiration.
Shekar : Guys, did you read Raja Sen’s review on Inception?? He seems to believe that Inception is not novel enough. How stupid!! I felt the “dream within a dream” was a novel idea.
Karthick : Raja Sen is a comedian.
Harish : Everyone has his own view. Perhaps Raja Sen watched Inception when the hype was at its peak. Hyped up films should be watched at the earliest.
Karthick : Even this 11 year old did not like Inception. He gave it a C, while giving a B+ for ‘Salt’. Ridiculous!!!
Harish : All in all, though people may develop different thoughts and opinion about Inception, Dream within Dreams is a very novel idea and sustaining the suspense and thrill through out the movie reaffirms it’s success in box office.
Shekar : Correct. A Movie that will make you go to the theater more than once.
Harish :The only little glitch is the focus is on the plot and hence it does not delve deeper into the characters. De Caprio’s acting is marvelous. And every other character delivers just what is expected. Nothing more nothing less. There are few scenes which brings smile. Especially Ken watanabe’s accented delivery with sarcasm. And Arthur’s witting style and making opportunity to kiss Ellen page and call it “Worth a shot”. Marion Cotillard who has played Edith Piaf in ” La vie en rose” stands up and delivers what the role demands.
Karthick : Correct. At the end of the film, You have a gripping plot to remember but the characters are washed away.
Shekar : Agree. To Conclude, Inception touches the mind but not the heart.
As Karthick, Harish and Shekar stand up and walk away for their lunch.
Shekar : Hey aren’t the kids same while they are shown playing in the garden before Cobb leaves and he arrives later.
Karthick : No, If you see IMDB credits, different names and ages are given for kids used in the scene before Cobb leaves and after he arrives.
Harish : Oh interesting…but, Lets stop the discussion here. This is one movie that has made us talk more than just reviewing a movie. Great discussion guys…Lets have lunch.
Karthick : Alright…Lets wake up by killing ourselves by eating the food served in Cafeteria.
Quote of the film :
“You’re waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope the train will take you, but you can’t be sure. But it doesn’t matter because we’ll be together.”
References and links on related topics:
1. WIKIPEDIA
2. IMDB
3. How Inception was filmed
4. Interview with Paul [ visual effects supervisor ]
5. Zhuangzi
6. Movie Review in Film Salon
7. Discussion on Inception – Karthick Hariharan’s Blog
Cubicle talkies 