Inception

 

Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Ken Watanabe, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy, Tom Berenger, Michael Caine, Dileep Rao, Pete Postlethwaite, Lukas Haas
Running Time: 148 min.
Rating: PG-13  

★★★★ (out of ★★★★)

In Inception writer/director Christopher Nolan presents ideas so intriguing it seems almost impossible for him to completely deliver on them. Yet somehow he mostly does. When you arrive late to a hyped-up film after everyone has already seen and discussed it, spoilers are practically unavoidable (as are certain expectations) but now after finally viewing it, I'm confused as to what could even be spoiled. Anyone who hasn't seen it likely wouldn't understand what you were trying to tell them anyway. It's not so much that the plot is hard to follow, but rather it's just a lot to process at once and the undivided attention required nearly mandates a second viewing. That's not something audiences like hearing, but in this case it's really true.  Once you get past that it's pretty cut and dry and even the much-debated final scene isn't really all that debatable. If you think about it, how else could it end? The fun in watching and re-watching Inception is to admire the ways Nolan puts all the puzzle pieces in place for us to arrive there. While it goes without saying this is a meticulously crafted science fiction think piece on every level, I still can't help but think Nolan again falls slightly short of delivering an all-out masterpiece. But that's probably just me being greedy. This is about as close as it gets.

The story, every bit as ambitious as you've heard, centers around Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a dream extraction specialist who with the help of his right-hand man, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) enters the unconscious minds of his targets while they're asleep, invading their dreams and extracting valuable information for his corporate clients. Unfortunately many of Cobb's recent missions have failed, as the painful memory of his late wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard) infiltrates all his dreams, haunting him in the form of a subconscious projection. His only chance to return home" to the U.S. and reunite with his children comes in the form of an offer from Japanese businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe) who wants Cobb to deliver the near-impossible in "inception," or the planting of an idea in someone's dreams. The mark is Robert Fischer, Jr. (Cillian Murphy) and the objective is to subconsciously give him the idea of breaking up his terminally ill father's (Pete Postlethwaite) energy empire. To do this he assembles a team to join him, Arthur and Saito consisting of dream architect Ariadne (Ellen Page), expert "forger" Eames (Tom Hardy) who can impersonate anyone in a dream and sedation specialist Yusef (Dileep Rao). The latter must determine the best method to put everyone under long enough to travel an unprecedented three levels deep (a dream within a dream within a dream) to perform the inception and then somehow safely bring them back. Of course, complications arise.    

The best scenes in Inception come early when we're teased with all the excitement and potential possibilities the central concept has to offer and learn the very specific rules of the world the characters inhabit, which reflect our own preconceived notions and questions about dreaming. How do you come out of it? How do you KNOW you're out of it? Or in your own and not someone else's? How much time passes? What if you free fall? What if you die? The answers aren't what you'd expect and that second question is the foundation on which the film is built. And that isn't even to speak of the idea of planting a concept in someone's subconscious and all the potential ramifications of that, which are explored, shown and discussed in intricate detail, amazingly without ever slowing the narrative of the plot. How "the smallest seed of an idea can grow" in the mind is really the genesis for the entire story and Cobb's tortured, complex relationship with his late wife Mal is where the film gets its emotional and intellectual kick. As many have already pointed out, this main sub-plot bares much more than a striking similarity to another DiCaprio thriller from this past year, Shutter Island. Exactly how I can't reveal but even knowing a lot going in I was still surprised just how many details the two stories had in common.

Despite featuring one of the most talented ensemble casts in years, this isn't an actor's showcase, but rather an idea showcase where the actors fill certain utility roles that drive the story. No single performer runs away with the film as Heath Ledger did in The Dark Knight. That opportunity just doesn't exist in something this plot driven, but if I had to choose, DiCaprio and Cotillard come the closest to doing it, since they have the deepest, most complex roles, and in the case of DiCaprio, the most important. He's probably given better performances but I can't ever remember him seeming as in command on screen as he is here, as Cobb alternates between leading fearlessly and completely losing his grip on reality. It would be a shame if this performance and the one he gave in Shutter Island cancel each other out in the minds of some because of their similarities since they're actually very different. DiCaprio is so consistent in a non-showy way in everything that many probably take for granted just how good an actor he can be. The memorably haunting Cotillard has the even the tougher role since scene-by-scene she has to adjust and act in whatever way the protagonist chooses to view her. Her character's essentially a fake projection, but she has to play her real.

Of the other supporting players, Joseph-Gordon Levitt (in maybe his highest profile role to date) was an inspired choice to play Cobb's point man since the actor always kind of seemed like a younger version of DiCaprio in terms of his acting style so watching them work onscreen together for the first time is fascinating. Unsurprisingly, JGL skillfully fleshes out what could have easily been a forgettable role in the hands of a lesser performer, and excels at intelligibly delivering a lot of expository dialogue. Some will undoubtedly criticize the casting of Ellen Page (whose contribution was about a thousand times larger than I expected) but for a change it's nice to see her playing a character who doesn't just think she's smart, but actually is. As our entry point into the story, she shares the film's most memorable sequence (the awe inspiring street folding scene), which serves as a lesson in dream building for her and a primer on the film's concepts for us. Tom Hardy has a smaller role as the forger but brings a lot to it, adding his quick wit and dry humor at unexpected moments. The always reliable Michael Caine has what amounts to little more than a cameo as Cobb's father-in-law and plays it as only he can while Tom Berenger (!) effectively fills the Eric Roberts "WTF is HE doing here?" spot as a sleazy business executive.

On an initial viewing the main job of Cobb's team seems like some of the same organized crime filler Nolan discarded bigger ideas for in The Dark Knight but a second, closer look reveals the corporate espionage plot to be an important cog in the machine that powers the entire plot and its themes. There's tons of action (my favorite: the third act Ice Station Zebra-inspired snow fortress shootout) but the script does an excellent job of always making it feel like there's something at stake despite all of this action taking place in a dream world. There are real world consequences to everything these characters do and we feel the weight of them throughout. This isn't in any way comparable to garbage like The Matrix which used its "ideas" as an excuse to pummel the audience with cutting-edge technology. Here's a screenplay that's actually about what it purports to be about all the way through and when CGI is used sparingly, it's for the right reasons, calling attention only to the story unfolding in front of us (the now infamous zero gravity hotel corridor scene being the best example).

The potential connection between our dreams, reality and existence (and where each begins and ends) is the driving force that propels the psychological journey of the film's tortured protagonist, as well as our own fascination with the entire concept of dreaming. The is one of the few science fiction screenplays where it actually seems as if a fair amount of of actual research was required to write it and it's a high compliment to Nolan that he bothers to invest a premise this fanciful with realistic, concrete details. It's becomes a completely different film on a second viewing and may just play differently each succeeding time after.  It's also tighter edited, more focused and considerably less sloppy than The Dark Knight was. In a genre where it's often easier to copy then create, Nolan creates. Any way you choose to spin it, Inception is a huge achievement likely to loom larger each time you watch.

Smart People

Director: Noam Murro
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Hayden Church, Ellen Page, Ashton Holmes
Running Time: 93 min.
Rating: R

**1/2 (out of ****)

It’s funny how our perceptions of certain actors can influence how we watch a film. Had Ellen Page not given her Oscar nominated performance as the sarcastic, wisecracking pregnant title character in Juno before Smart People was released no one probably would have thought twice about her work in it. But because she did make that previous film and garnered too much publicity for it, many will go into this one wanting to rip her apart. If you’re one of them you’re going to have a field day because her role is much larger than even the trailer indicated.

Then we have Dennis Quaid playing a depressed, burnt-out college professor. Had another actor been cast we also wouldn’t have cared, but because it’s Quaid (who has a longstanding reputation for playing man’s men) we pay attention. I mention all this because the cast is the best thing Smart People has going for it. The title is supposed to be ironic. I think. These people really believe they’re smart but in reality they’re not. That same description could apply to the film itself.

Despite some fascinating (if not all necessarily good) performances when the movie ended I wondered what the point of it was. I was never bored and couldn’t stop watching but found it was an ordeal spending time with these unlikable, irritating people. I also question the benefits of releasing another one of these low-budget indie “human comedies” that expect us to break out in a fit of giggles over issues like incest and repressed homosexuality…then have a good cry.
I really wanted to like this (and came close) but the tone felt way off and when I compiled a mental checklist I realized it failed in its primary goal of getting me to care what happens to the characters. I just couldn’t root for them and all their various emotional transformations rang false. Part of the problem is that everything is painted in such broad strokes that these people don’t feel real and instead came off as a screenwriter’s somewhat narrow vision of what “real” is supposed to be. As a result he film becomes a parody of what it’s trying to be and ends up being almost as arrogant and condescending as it’s protagonist.

To say that Carnegie Mellon University English Professor Lawrence Wetherhold (Quaid) is full of himself is like calling the sky blue or proclaiming the sun will rise tomorrow morning. A recent widower, he hides his pain and depression with sarcastic remarks and a side helping of witty insults. He’s one of those jerks who you actually have to think how to get along with and worry the next word you speak might set him off. He doesn’t care who his students are (even giving them name tags so he doesn’t have to) and is justifiably despised by his co-workers. Even his half-hearted desire to be head of the English department stems from massive egotism and a desperate need for attention rather than any kind of motivation to improve the academic program.

The real victim of Lawrence’s selfish behavior is his lonely, over-achieving daughter, Vanessa (Page) who is very much a chip off the old block and emulates his obnoxious, arrogant behavior. His college-age son James (Ashton Holmes) was smarter and just escaped into his own world, avoiding the situation entirely. On top of Lawrence failing miserably to find a publisher for his latest book, his adopted slacker brother, Chuck (Thomas Hayden Church) moves in and must act as his makeshift chauffer when he suffers an unfortunate head injury trying to retrieve his towed car. The accident causes an introduction to Dr. Janet Hartigan (Sarah Jessica Parker) a former student he doesn’t remember who used to have a crush on him. They begin dating. And so begins the redemption of Lawrence Wetherhold.

If you had told me going in that amongst these world-class Oscar nominated actors, Sarah Jessica Parker would deliver the best performance in the film I wouldn’t have believed it. It’s not that everyone else does a bad job per se, just that Mark Poirier’s familiar script turns them into indie film caricatures and there’s only so much they can do to overcome it. The worst of which is Page’s Vanessa. Anyone who hated the character of Juno MacGuff better brace themselves. Vanessa is just like her except for the fact that she’s mean, nasty and completely unlikable. Why? Because she’s a REPUBLICAN and this is Hollywood. The portrait of Ronald Reagan on her wall kind of gave it away, as did her talking about Dick Cheney in glowing terms. Her political beliefs are completely irrelevant to the family pain she’s going through which is why it feels like a cheap shot that it was thrown in there. She’s also carries an S.A.T. study guide around with her in case we don’t quite get the message that she’s an overachiever.

It's worth mentioning there’s a development with Vanessa at the midway point that’s just disgusting. It was creepy, awkward and unnecessary. I wanted to throw up. I was a fan of Page’s work in Juno and thought she deserved all the praise and recognition she received so if I found her irritating in this I can only imagine what everyone else will think. I hate to agree with her detractors because she is a big talent, but unless she starts finding some different, more challenging roles other than the “wise well beyond her years” sarcastic teen, her career will start to fizzle out.Thomas Hayden Church does what he can with the slacker brother role and had another actor been cast it could have been a disaster. It’s one-dimensional part but Church brings some real dimension to it.

The chief selling point of the film is the emerging relationship between Quaid and Parker’s characters and the best thing I can say is that the two have great chemistry and I wanted to see them in a movie more deserving of it. It’s just impossible to believe that anyone could stand to be in the same room with a narcissistic emotional cripple like Lawrence much less be involved in some kind of meaningful relationship with him. At first she can't but then, of course, she begins to warm up to the idea. I didn't. Despite the best efforts of the actors his transformation was just too much of a stretch for me to buy in the context it was presented. That Quaid and Parker even come within a striking distance of pulling it off proves how much more they could have done with a stronger script. Parker’s Janet is the only character in the film who seems like a normal, grounded human being and seems so intelligent that I was almost willing to go along with her idea that this relationship could possibly work. Parker at least made me care what happened to that character and I probably would have rather watched a film about her.

This is a huge departure for Dennis Quaid and despite being miscast he mostly does a decent job, but I found myself distracted by some of the physical choices he made. During the film I found myself asking: "Why is he walking like that?" Supposedly, Quaid traveled to college campuses to study the professors but what purpose does it serve to imitate how they walk? Unaware that college professors are some strange species that walk differently than humans, I found myself concentrating on his duck-like shuffle throughout the film. He also has a middle-aged paunch, a shaggy beard and his head wanders all over the place while talking.

Rather than worrying how professors look it would have made more sense to inhabit how they act. Quaid does do that well, which is why I found the other things so distracting. He’s an underrated actor and it was great to see him in a different role like this but everything didn’t need to go so over-the-top. I wish director Noam Murro trusted him more to tell him the physical stuff wasn’t necessary and added little to the character. Michael Douglas’ work in 2000’s Wonder Boys is a good example of more restrained work in a very similar role.
I counted about four times the movie could have come to an end but kept going. That’s scary when you consider it’s only an hour and a half long, which I can’t believe because it sure felt a whole lot longer. It was one manufactured crisis after another with these people set to one of those pretentious indie soundtracks where every song sounds like it comes from a guy who’s strumming an acoustic guitar in a coffee shop. I love movies set in academia and ones featuring dysfunctional families so with this cast you’d figure this would be a slam dunk for me. Instead, it misses its mark by trekking through familiar territory with nothing new to say. It attempts to make up for it by trying too hard. Smart People is just a little too smart for its own good.

Juno

Director: Jason Reitman
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janey, J.K. Simmons, Olivia Thirlby
Running Time: 91 minutes
Rating: R

***1/2 (out of ****)

I see a lot of movies. So many in fact that it’s virtually impossible to review all of them. Every once in a while I’ll have to skip writing about a couple which usually occurs with little damage done and no looking back. Occasionally though, films I didn’t have time to review have a way of rearing their heads later and making me second guess whether I made the right call. Two of those lesser-seen films were Jason Reitman’s 2005 directorial debut Thank You For Smoking and 2006's jolting drama Hard Candy. I thought the first was a clever, biting film that I all but forgot about five minutes after it ended. I can’t say the same for Hard Candy, a certifiable masterpiece that featured an unforgettable powerhouse performance from Ellen Page as a disturbed young girl who entraps a pedophile that should have earned her an Academy Award.

Little did I know at the time that the director of one of those films and the star of the other would team up for Juno, one of the most critically acclaimed and over-hyped movies of 2007. Nor did I know that I wouldn’t be able to turn on the television without hearing their names or the personal story of the film’s screenwriter, Diablo Cody. Logging into any web site these past couple of months without seeing that ubiquitous orange stripe and the title character’s baby bump became impossible, with the media saturation of Juno reaching unrelenting heights. If everyone’s rooting for the underdog, can it really even be considered the underdog? I do wish I had gotten in on the ground level and saw it months ago because I don’t think I fully realized just how sick I was of hearing about the film until I actually entered the theater to watch it and the opening credits rolled. I asked myself why I was there and the movie answered me, erasing all my doubts for the next hour and a half.

Hype or not, any film lives or dies by its own merits and while Juno isn’t completely perfect, it’s pretty damn close and supercedes in what it’s trying to do. It takes the thankless topic of pregnancy, which was already butchered in two brain-dead films this past year, and invests it with warmth and intelligence, a small miracle considering how meager the premise is on paper. Looking beyond the quirky and sometimes unconventionally ridiculous dialogue it’s a movie that gets the little details of real life just right and features some of the best supporting performances of the year. But make no mistake about it the movie belongs to Ellen Page for her Oscar nominated turn as a pregnant teenager who the movie doesn’t ask us to necessarily like or even tolerate, but just understand. That’s an important distinction many of the film’s growing detractors have failed to recognize. But by the end of the movie Page’s performance gives us little choice but to like her, whether we want to or not. And believe me, I went in dead set against it.

After a pretty cool opening credit sequence the film has an off-putting start with quasi-hipster dialogue being sprayed all over the place that’s tough to make heads or tails of. So much so that it doesn’t even sound like the characters are speaking the English language and it takes a good ten minutes to adjust to their manner of speech because at first it sounds unlike anything you’ve heard before, either in life or in a movie. I’m suspecting that’s a major reason why Cody’s script has been attracting so much positive and negative attention, even though that really shouldn’t be what’s primarily focused on (despite how endlessly quotable and hilarious most of the quirky dialogue is). Most of these zingers are delivered by wise-cracking 16-year-old Juno MacGuff (Page) who’s gotten herself into a little bit of a “pickle,” as it’s referred to throughout the film, after sleeping with her best friend, the shy and nerdy school track team member Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera).

A few EPT tests later she discovers she’s pregnant and at the urging of her best friend Leah (a scene-stealing Olivia Thirlby) comes clean to her maintenance man dad (J.K. Simmons) and dog-loving step-mom (Allison Janey). They’re reaction to the news is surprising and not at all what I expected and I think the reason why is because they actually reacted how real parents would. The scene is both hysterical and touching, as well as the first true sign that underneath all that showy verbiage is a story with genuine substance. A lot of credit can also go to Simmons and Janey who play their roles with pitch-perfect precision. They seem real, which is high praise considering most movie parents seem like overprotective cartoons.

After a briefly flirting with the idea of abortion and a scary clinic visit, Juno decides she’s going to give the baby up for adoption. The lucky couple (found through a PennySaver ad) is Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), a pair of rich yuppies who look like they just stepped out of Town and Country magazine. Mark is a commercial jingle composer who dreams of rock stardom and seems more interested in hanging around the house watching low budget horror movies than being a dad. The uptight Vanessa’s whole world literally revolves around adopting a child. You could categorize them as stereotypes, but really, aren’t all yuppies stereotypes?

Cody’s script takes those stereotypes and somehow finds a way to present them as fresh, while at the same time investing them with considerable depth. The relationship between Mark and Vanessa just may be the most complex in the film and the turns they both take during the course of the story is surprising (or at least would have been had every media outlet not taken the liberty of spoiling it for me). Neither is exactly what they seem to be or how we perceive them at first. Nearly every relationship in this film means something and contributes to the story. The major one is obviously between Juno and Paulie but that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of how deep everything goes.

The real skill of the movie is how it depicts the little details between the cracks. Like how the popular cheerleader is best friends with an oddball like Juno. Or how that same best friend has a hysterically unhealthy attachment to her teacher. Or how no one can believe Bleeker is capable of getting anyone pregnant. It’s tough to explain but every scene contains a little surprise or two you don’t expect, and what’s most amazing is that everything seems to look so effortless and flow so well. We see Paulie’s track team running in their ridiculous attire throughout the film indicating the passing of the seasons as we get closer to the due date. Reitman overdoes it a little with the music (provided by indie singer/songwriter Kimya Dawson) at times but no one could say it doesn’t perfectly fit Juno’s quirky sensibilities or the film’s tone. The ending is sappy and sentimental, but this is a story that actually earns it for a change. Going in I expected this to be a writer’s film more than a director’s but it’s actually Reitman’s assured handling of the material and tight control over the story that reigns in a lot of Cody’s over-the-top and occasionally self-indulgent dialogue, especially in the beginning.

It’s often forgotten that the job of a screenwriter is two-fold. The first is the actual writing of the dialogue and construction of the story, but the second tougher underlying job is making that story actually mean something. Some movies contain brilliant, snappy dialogue but behind it is no substance because we don’t care about the characters. I don’t necessarily have to believe that real people talk this way, but rather that these people would and I did for every minute of the picture.

Everyone does speak pretentiously but it doesn’t ring false because they use it as a defense mechanism against dealing with the uncomfortable situation with which they’ve been presented. That’s most true with Juno and what makes Page’s performance so special is not her ability to so naturally deliver all that quirky dialogue (although that is a huge accomplishment) but what she hints at beneath it. Yes, this girl made a stupid mistake but the movie and the characters acknowledge just how idiotic it was and deal with it. Even her.

Juno’s witty sarcasm is just her way of coping with a disaster she knows was her own doing. Saying the movie fails because the dialogue is “too clever” is completely missing the point and doesn’t take into account the bigger picture. I don’t care so much about the dialogue as much as the context it’s presented in and the purpose behind it. Page’s performance here isn’t at the level of her work in Hard Candy but considering few female performances I’ve ever seen are that’s not such a bad thing. It’s a tricky, tightrope walk that couldn’t have been executed nearly as well by any other actress and it would have been a different, far lesser film without her in the lead. If she took home the gold Oscar night you wouldn’t hear any complaints from me.

So you think the executives at Fox television have suffered enough yet for their mistreatment of Arrested Development? Have they learned their lesson? Previously known only for starring in a brilliant, but ratings-challenged show, it seems almost ironic now that Jason Bateman and Michael Cera (who don’t share a single scene together in this) are in one of the most profitable movies of the year that’s up for four Academy Awards. For anyone who watched that show this isn’t a surprise at all. What was surprising to me was how big and important a role Bateman had in the film. As I was exiting the theater I overheard an elderly couple raving about how great a job they thought Bateman did in the film. I thought the exact same thing and it just may be the great, overlooked performance of the movie that should have generated Oscar buzz of it’s own.

At times it carries the movie and the friendship that develops between his Mark and Juno is really interesting. You’re never exactly sure how the movie will handle it and a lot of that credit goes to Bateman who plays him both as a really cool guy, but someone who’s dealing with some big issues of his own as well. This is the best film work of his career so far. Cera actually doesn’t have as much screen time as you may think, but the role is invaluable and I actually thought Reitman found a way to dial his awkwardness down a notch and he gives a quietly effective, intelligent performance. Jennifer Garner doesn’t fair nearly as well as everyone else and could be considered the one weak acting link in the film. At times she seems almost a little too mannered and stilted.

The recent backlash against this film has been some of the strongest I’ve ever seen. It’s been downright scary to read the internet venom spewed, specifically at Diablo Cody. Eli Roth must be thrilled to have a couple of months off as movie buffs have channeled all their hatred toward her of late. It’s both uplifting and depressing that a script written by a ex-stripper/blogger during her lunch breaks at Target gets optioned and she’s hits the jackpot. Uplifting because it proves anything’s possible, yet depressing because it means there may be other brilliant undiscovered spec scripts hiding out there that may never see the light of day because Hollywood is too busy greenlighting Norbit 2. Considering how many aspiring screenwriters there are out there I can’t help but think that some of the anger directed at her is just pure jealousy.

The big question is whether Juno really is as good as everyone’s been saying it is. In the midst of all the hype surrounding it it’s impossible for me to answer that question right now. Time will tell whether this holds up really well or not. Its Oscar trajectory has been compared a lot recently to another small film that could, last year’s Little Miss Sunshine (also released by Fox Searchlight). That was nominated for Best Picture, shoved down our throats by the press, yet now the film seems almost trite and insignificant (and it’s only been a year). There’s no telling if the same fate will await this but as much as it pains me to say it I can’t name any more than a few films in ’07 that I thought were better than it…so far.

While part of me wonders if the film seems so good because its ambitions are so modest, there is something undeniably special and unique in feel about it and it’s hard to put a finger on exactly what. It has an original voice and at its center is a strong female character, something we’re not given nearly enough of in mainstream movies these days. I can’t say I’ll be rooting hard for it on Oscar night but that’s the media fault, not the film’s. If Reitman, Cody and Page are normal people like I suspect they are they’re probably as burnt out and as sick of talking about the movie as we are hearing about it. I’m sure they’re ready to move on to the next thing and I know I’ve had my fill of pregnancy movies. Any more and I’ll probably go into labor myself. But at the end of the day, the fact that Juno is a very good film is tough to ignore. And that’s all that should matter.