Technology and the subconscious together aren’t always a good thing. They’re often out of control. Ask anybody who’s ever had a crashed computer (moi, last week) or a jammed iPod or frozen TiVo. But what of a man, Cobb, (Leonardo DiCaprio) who travels around a world of sci-fi as a thief (think Catch Me If You Can) except he’s not stealing money, but instead stealing dreams from the most vulnerable. Leo can “search the mind and find one’s thinking.” His partner Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is skilled in understanding what’s needed, though he spends all of the movie dressed out-of-character from the others, looking more like Bugsy Siegel, ready to rob a bank instead of a brain. The film operates in several dream states, tricking the audience into wondering whether they’re awake or asleep during the murder, mayhem and even suicides. Its here we meet the one person who turns Leo the most vulnerable, his wife, Mal (Marion Cotillard). But after a series of events, Leo must do the ultimate heist of all….plant the info into someone’s brain instead of remove it. The film is sophisticated, visually stunning – it really feels like a dream – and smart, but it’s straining for the audience who not only wants to connect to the characters, but just wants to plain understand what the heck is going on. Had Leo just had a common trade, like a plumber, we’d be okay. And while there’s a lot of exposition, for all their explaining of the next plan, we still don’t get it. Directed by Chris Nolan The Dark Knight/Memento, the better dream-director is Terry Gilliam (Twelve Monkeys or The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus). For any movie buff, the coolest moments in the film are when a random Edith Piaf soundtrack plays,which ironically signals Marion Cottilard (in this film) who won the Oscar for La Vie En Rose. This movie will eat at audiences in the aftermath, prompting them to re-watch it on DVD or discuss it on blogs. And isn’t that just like in a dream? The desire to fall back asleep and see it again? Two and a half tiaras
