3:50pm Tuesday 20th July 2010
By Rhian Morgan
On a visit to Warner Bros studio in LA last year, I noticed a workshop with various gilded Oriental panels.
When I asked the tour guide what film they were for, he said in awed tones it was for a top-secret project.
My partner, a fellow film buff, reckoned it was for a new movie called Inception, which was getting US critics excited a year before its release.
And it has certainly had plenty of pre-publicity here, with practically every film trailer of the past few months featuring the booming soundtrack and mysterious dream-like imagery.
So, with such a build-up, I was anticipating a masterpiece. But did it live up to my expectations?
Come back to me when I’ve seen it again. Because I don’t think Inception is the type of film you see after a hard day at the office and it is certainly not just popcorn cinema.
In fact, just pray no-one is sitting next to you chomping away as any distraction is fatal to your understanding of this complex film.
In the hi-tech world of corporate espionage, brilliant thief Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) plunders the subconscious of the powerful to extract their priceless secrets.
Then a top businessman approaches Dom with a proposition: to plant an idea in the mind of a rival to destroy the competiton.
Dom enlists the services of regular right-hand man Arthur (Jospeh Gordon-Levitt), novice dream architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), and talented forger Eames (Tom Hardy).
However, Dom conceals a terrible secret: the projection of his self-destructive late wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard), could escape his dreams and sabotage the mission.
Inception borrows from many films, most noticeably The Matrix, especially visually – the folding buildings and starburst slow-mo explosions are all breath-taking (and I was thrilled to see the gilded panels make an appearance).
But the box office is awash with special effects extravaganzas and the publicity promised so much more.
Inception’s plot is often confusing, as dreamscapes blend into reality.
And the film takes itself very seriously, with an elegant air of tortured genius emanating from every shot.
I felt a sense of disappointment as the credits rolled.
Maybe I expected too much but I felt that, for all its poignancy, this was a dream that will not live long in the memory.
On general release.
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