But the only reason we believe the top has any significance at all is because Cobb says it does. And if he's not a reliable narrator, then the top reality-test is just one more lie he's telling himself.
Can I mop your brow? I am at the ready with the fearsome brow-mop.
Wash ,'Objects In Space'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Jessica - Jul 19, 2010 7:02:53 am PDT #9998 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Jon B. - Jul 19, 2010 7:03:36 am PDT #9999 of 30000
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!
PC: FWIW, Rao (who has spicy brains) agrees with you.
Jon B. - Jul 19, 2010 7:03:45 am PDT #10000 of 30000
A turkey in every toilet -- only in America!
10K!
Polter-Cow - Jul 19, 2010 7:11:47 am PDT #10001 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
I like this Rao character! I don't remember him in Avatar, but I did like him in Drag Me to Hell.
And, Jessica, I agree with you that if it's all a dream, the top-signifier doesn't mean anything. But I don't see enough evidence that the WHOLE thing was a dream. Like Rao says, in that viewing, we never see the real Cobb, the actual reality, the final layer. There aren't any hints that the reality layer in the film is a dream, as far as I can tell. Besides the very on-the-nose names. Also, if the other characters are just projections, how do they go deeper into the dream layers with him? You basically don't have to believe anything said in the movie at ALL if it's all a dream. Personally, I don't find that interpretation satisfying. But if people do, that's cool, and it's to Nolan's credit that he made a movie where IT'S ALL A DREAM does work. (Also, ha, if the top-signifier doesn't mean anything, that final shot is meaningless and signifies nothing! You can't have it both ways!)
Jessica - Jul 19, 2010 7:12:40 am PDT #10002 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Um, I just got to this part in that article:
It's like people who are convinced 9/11 is an inside job.
And you know what, fuck him. Speculating about psychological levels of reality in a movie that's about psychological levels of reality is like being a 9/11 truther? I'm calling this interview Godwin'ed and ignoring it.
Jessica - Jul 19, 2010 7:15:23 am PDT #10003 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
For me, if it's NOT all a dream, then it's an unbelievably boring heist movie. I can't accept that the Fischer storyline really is what it's presented as, because the resolution is just too stupid for that.
OTOH, I felt the same way about A Beautiful Mind and the last season's premiere of House, and both of those turned out to take place in reality, so....
Polter-Cow - Jul 19, 2010 7:44:39 am PDT #10004 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Whereas I thought the heist was exciting and really liked the Fischer storyline, unexpectedly caring for his character by the end.
Right now, I'm reading the Salon recap. I think they did this with Donnie Darko too, so I'm interested to see how they unpack it.
Polter-Cow - Jul 19, 2010 8:13:39 am PDT #10005 of 30000
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
Strega, if you haven't read the Salon recap, you should, since they agree with you on the meta-commentary. At least skip down to the Q&A.
They (and whoever wrote the IMDb FAQ) disagree with Rao on who's dreaming the snow level. Ariadne's question about whose subconscious they're going into (which drew a laugh from the audience) was answered "Fischer," so I thought it was Fischer's dream, but then again I thought it was all Fischer's dream, as I forgot how everything worked and all the dreaming and controlling and whatever. I think it does make more sense for Eames to be the dreamer since he's on the team; they're still using Fischer's subconscious, always.
I did like how they explained their notion that Inception is not actually a movie about dreams.
§ ita § - Jul 19, 2010 9:22:10 am PDT #10006 of 30000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
Angelina Jolie talks about keeping Salt from becoming pretty.
I realise I'm irritated by the idea that there's something wrong for a female action hero to use her femininity. Why? Is it inappropriate for a woman to be feminine and an action hero?
I do think it often lapses into seductress cliche--but that's not what was stated in the article as what was being avoided. I'm trying to imagine a male action hero avoiding using his masculinity. The hell? He doesn't have to leave his gender at home, or make excuses for it.
le nubian - Jul 19, 2010 9:22:28 am PDT #10007 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
okay, FWIW - and I have to see the movie again, I got triggers in my head about something weird was going on in the movie around the time that Ariadne showed up. I took just about everything at face value until Cobb's interactions with her. What triggered me is that she seemed to either be wearing the same clothes or wearing the exact same color palette several different times we saw her across different scenes. I don't know what that means if anything, but that struck me as strange in the movie theater.
I think it means that the latter half of the movie was an intervention, perhaps started in the plane. I note that Ariadne was the character that got Cobb to tell all of his secrets. She seemed to function like an alter who was always reasonable all of the time. So perhaps the intervention started back in Japan and Watanabe's character had been involved all along.