And I will lead them on a merry chase
or: the story of how i got locked out of system access at work, couldn't find a single system administrator, gave up, left early, and walked down a few blocks to watch inception again. (this is a new record for me. i never watch a movie in theatres twice. never ever.) NON, JE NE REGRETTE RIEN!
in some ways, i think i actually found in more enjoyable the second time around, once i sort of had the rules in the back of my head (and wasn't as distracted by pretty people in pretty suits). i think it boiled down to the fact that the first time i watched it, i went in detached. i knew very little and cared very little and yes, i came out impressed and flaily. this time, i went in impressed and flaily and came out completely satisfied (and thinking and thinking and thinking). i love that this movie makes me think and not think of things that i thought were innovative or impossible, because they aren't, and much of the fictional themes that fascinate me follow this dream-memory-psych-subconscious pattern anyway, and so generally heavily that they often creep into the things i produce as well. rather, i love the layers upon layers. i love the narratives, all of them, and that there is so much going on this universe, making it a rich, rich playground full of and open to so much possibility.
the first time, i also spent a lot of time absorbing the exposition (totems, dream rules, wtf happened to mal, etc) that there were things that i had glimpsed but didn't have time to fully appreciate. for example: the overarching story about loss and grief and letting go--to me, that is one of the most moving things about this narrative. also, the shared experience, and what it does to you, because even though it's a "dream", there are repercussions. the longer you spend, the more it changes you, and just in that instant, with cobb waking up on the plane, you could feel in the air that no one was the same and that they had shared something so huge together. on that note, i love that these people have a history, and the unfilled blanks of it, most notably cobb and arthur and eames. and i was saying to someone else earlier that I AM SO STARVED FOR BACKSTORY.
also, (essentially: haters gonna hate & all that stuff about different strokes)--i know it's not flawless by any means. much of the exposition is clunky and there are plotholes and more flashy visuals and explosions than substance in many parts but all things considered, i love too much of it to be severely nitpicky. idk if it's just that i'm insanely fond of the cast and thereby built more out of their characters than what i was given but i can't agree with the criticism that everyone except for cobb (& maybe mal) was just there as two-dimensional backdrop and purely perfunctory. sure, they weren't as complex or developed as cobb but most of them were a far cry from just that. without the team, there would be no bamfness, no colour and energy, no inception. without them it would basically be dom cobb and his epic manpain. and seeing it again, i can see that they each get their little moments to shine. every dream level, one of them gets to do their thing. saito gets shot way early on so i'm not including him but otherwise, ariadne's probably the only one who doesn't get to drive badly and gunsling. that said, SHE BUILDS THE EVERYTHING, and she was incredible for someone who just learned everything about shared-dreaming in a ridiculously short period of time so i can bask in the awesomeness of that. also, more ariadne-love because she's getting a lot of flak: i get that she was written like a plot device a lot of the time but i still enjoyed her parts and totally bought the sympathy/empathy/curiousity/concern re: the cobbs (and everyone else) as very sincere. i thought she was a good mix of teammate and shrink and protege and fifth business. i read another review saying how everyone except for cobb & mal got either a first name or a last name and job title (point man, architect, forger, etc) that defined them, but i don't entirely agree. ariadne was a great architect but she was much more than that. she called most of the bullshit when everyone else working with cobb was all blah about it and took it in stride, and she came back after the first shared dream because she was curious, because here was something amazing and exceptional she could do with her talent. basically, i felt that it wasn't that their jobs defined them as people but it was the other way around. being an architect didn't give her imagination or creativity, she already had that. likewise for the others and their respective cases. overall, i'm pretty sure i came out loving everyone more.
& i was going to say this last time but re-watching has cemented that dom/mal = twisty story of my heart and relationship OF MY SOUL THAT PUSHES ALL OF MY TWISTY BUTTONS. and: they are married. both of them frustrate and madden me in turns but the fact that they are so ridiculously crazy, even independently of each other, so brilliant and manipulative and lost in each other and it was disturbing and amazing and flawless victory to my brain. even visually, every single one of their scenes, the body language, the intimacy, either it was cold and harsh and sharp or soft and lush and dark. and their story by itself is so whole and complete even in all its disarray that i don't feel the need to change it. i love love love the imagery of this movie in every single flipping way. i loved the motions, the faces, the visuals, the textures, the layers, the feel. basically, i want this dvd now so i can keep it and hold it close to my chest and watch a hundred times over and memorize. in the meantime, i intend to drown myself in the fandom because it is AWESOME and is producing gold.
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is limbo really that terrifying? & why? why wouldn't you just kill yourself and wake up immediately after falling into it rather than let your brain marinate in it until it becomes a puddle and you forget reality. clearly it's possible to wake up. it doesn't always require that you wait for the sedative to wear off or for synchronized kicks in limbo because cobb & saito woke up long after the kick. cobb & mal did the same thing. i get that in their experiences (or cobb & saito's at least), they had something worth searching and waiting for. i still don't get the whole bit about when they initially get into fischer's militarized brain and then freak out when they find they're stuck there. why couldn't they have killed themselves --> gone to limbo --> and killed themselves again to have eventually woken up? *brainache*
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ALSO: OMG, INTERNET, I CAN'T TAKE ANYTHING SERIOUSLY ANYMORE. THE LEO SQUINTY MACRO MEME THING? I COULD. NOT. STOP. LAUGHING. WHEN THAT SCENE CAME ON. if you don't know what i'm talking about, see this and this. oh god. there are so many more. and i love them. this is the real difference between watching something before and after you're discovered fandom >>
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in other news, WHY IS THERE A MOVIE ABOUT FACEBOOK? WHYYYY?
in other, other news, metric did a free concert yesterday by union square which i caught glimpses of. they sounded good but the block was packed with a surprisingly and terribly dull crowd and i hadn't eaten or slept in like 20 or so hours and was about to pass out so i stuck around for all of fifteen minutes before catching the train home. fun stuff!