Tuesday, July 17, 2012

My Favorite Scene: Inception


Warning: Critical plot details will be divulged in this post. The ending will be spoiled.

I can’t mention a favorite scene from Christopher Nolan’s thrilling spectacle, Inception, without first discussing the hallway fight. The first time I saw Joseph Gordon-Levitt jump off a wall, fall to his hands and spider walk across the hall to fight a suited thug, I gasped out loud. Literally gasped. You don’t understand, this kid doesn’t gasp in movies, because this kid sometimes naïvely thinks he’s seen it all. How futile of me. That fight scene, which by now most know was achieved with visual trickery, not computer effects, is as fascinating as any gravitational deceit found in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Chills run through my spine everytime I watch it.

So, in understanding how iconic I find that sequence, it may come as a surprise that my favorite scene from Inception is something far subtler. Really, it’s just a series of looks.


Once the mission is complete and Cillian Murphy’s brain has been incepted with the idea of terminating his father’s company. Once everyone comes out of their dreams and slowly wakes up aboard the airplane where it all begin. Once, you know, the movie calms the hell down and aims to finish its story, we are privy to a handful of exquisite examples of emotional expression.
Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), in tight close up, slowly opens his eyes to see that the mission is indeed complete. He ventured to the unknown and rescued Saito (Ken Wantanabe) after presumed decades of withering.

Now watch.

Watch DiCaprio’s enlarged eyes as he takes the scene in. He looks behind him to Arthur (Gordon-Levitt), his right hand man who stares at Cobb with understated gratification, before looking at the ground, smiling, then looking back up. We then glide past Ellen Page’s character (which admittedly does nothing for me), before focusing on Wantanabe, who isn’t waking up from a dream, but from a “lifetime of regret.” Saito slightly looks around, makes eye contact with Cobb, then effortlessly picks up his phone as promised. The call he’s about to make will allow Cobb to be a free man. And the way Saito makes it, without the hint of thinking twice, is ungodly satisfying.
But it gets better. Once Cobb clears customs, he walks through the baggage claim area, receiving a few gracious looks of approval from his partners in crime.

Arthur gives him a nod, Page’s Ariadne smiles on, Tom Hardy’s Eames stares pleasing, but it’s Murphy who steals the show. As Cobb passes Murphy’s Robert Fischer, the two share the briefest of looks, in which Murphy reveals the slightest hint of acknowledgement. It’s as if he’s seen Cobb in, you guessed it, a dream. But watch – fucking watch – what Murphy does with this moment. He looks at DiCaprio and instead of doing a standard double take with his head, he lets his eyes gently jolt from DiCaprio’s face, to the ground, to the back of his own mind, to his phone, all in the span of a second. It’s a look that says so much in such a tight period of time. That, to me, is acting.
Human movement is very exaggerated. Have you ever watched a video of yourself when you didn’t know you were being recorded? Say it’s a short clip of you at a party or get together or whatever. One of the reasons people get so embarrassed when they watch themselves is because they are completely unaware of how they move. They didn’t know they flailed their hands so wildly, or moved their heads so continually. The point I’m getting at is, to be so in touch with your movements is to exercise a great amount of skill. Believe me, it is just as hard to convey that amount of restraint in Murphy’s eyes, as it is for Gordon-Levitt to fight a man in a revolving hallway.

Murphy’s look is such a delicacy among a film filled with hyperbolic, gasp-inducing moments of action bravado. It’s one of the best looks I’ve ever seen on film. It is clear evidence of the restraint displayed by the actor playing the role, and the director running the show.

Previous installments of My Favorite Scene include:
Traffic


Next on the Week of Nolan:
Wednesday July 18
In Character: ???

Thursday July 19
The Polarization of The Prestige

Friday July 20
My Favorite Scene: Insomnia

Saturday July 21
Review of The Dark Knight Rises

Sunday July 22
Why You Need to Follow Following

43 comments:

  1. Woah good scene. I do like this scene, though I think it's part of Cobb's dream. It is nice to see sort of a happy ending for these characters, though I will have to rewatch it more closely next time to focus on Murphy, who I do think is an excellent actor and is probably capable of such a subtle look.

    Great post :)

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    1. Thanks! Yeah, I decided to not even touch on the "Is it a dream?" dynamic of the ending, because I think that continuing argument is really boring. Regardless, Cobb is happy, and I think that is what's important.

      Murphy is the man. I've always liked him, but I loved his work in this movie.

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  2. Good choice. You should embed the "Time" music in the post to get the full effect!

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    1. Ha shit, you might be right. Great track there. BUMMM BUMMM BUMMMMMMMMM.

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  3. I really enjoyed this film, but I want to see this scene again because I don't remember it being as awesome as you say it is. However, the link you supplied is incorrect -- you linked the hallway fight scene twice in this post.

    I will not tolerate carelessness, Alex. And I WANT TO SEE THIS SCENE, DAMMIT.

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    1. BAAALLLLLSSSS. Just fixed that shit. Check it, homie.

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    2. Homie, it is checked. Thanks for that. And you're right; it's a wonderful display of physical acting. Nice shout out, man. You have a fine eye for such detail! You're the perfect audience for this film, which is loaded with such tiny details.

      I dig.

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  4. That is a great scene. It allows all of the characters (w/ the exception of Mal) to be seen one last time as the mission has completed and I do love that look from Cillian Murphy. He's like "did something just happen?"

    The whole movie is brilliant from start to finish yet I think Murphy had the best line in that film "why couldn't we have dreamt to be on some beach or something?"

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    1. Ha, I love that line. I also like his delivery of: "You're talking about dreams?" Very simple and effective.

      Really glad you enjoy this moment too. Murphy is just perfect here.

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  5. You know what, you can pick almost any scene from this movie and I will be like "WOW, Great Scene !!" :D There is a reason this movie is my No.1. Love every single thing about this movie.

    And Thanks for reminding me of that look. I never dissected that look so brilliantly but I did notice it while watching.

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    1. I forgot this was your number 1! That's too cool. I'm a huge fan of it too, and it's quiet moments like this that tend to floor me the most. Bitchin' film all around.

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  6. I'll still never forget that Hallway scene during a midnight screening (I don't go to Midnights, usually), just how the entire audience was as entranced as I was. You could 'feel' it in the theater the brain power at work following the complicated and nuanced story, and that's the thing, people were willing to actually think about what they were watching. As I said to my friends after a night of not sleeping, Inception is an experience not just a film. For me, it's when they're figuring out just how in the hell they're going to pull this caper off, just a group of people 'brainstorming'over the human mind. Seeing how each of them think and what they bring to the team, I was awestruck.

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    1. This comment is gold, and precisely how I feel about the movie. Awestruck is the absolute perfect word to describe the state I fall into whenever I watch this. Really glad to hear you dig it as much as me.

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    2. What strikes me most about Inception actually is how much it serves as an allegory for the filmmaking process. Think of it, Cobb as the director and Fischer as the audience. He guides Fischer through a visual journey, and thus has a cathartic experience. All the rest of the team fall into other metaphorical jobs; Arthur as the stuntman, Eames as the Actor, Ariadne as the cinematographer, and Saito as the producer. The scene where they're all standing around is exactly like a filming team scouting locations. When asked what the movie reminded him of, Leo didn't say an Ocean's Eleven type of heist movie, he said '8 1/2'. Fellini's ode to filmmaking.

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    3. Man, you are one insightful cat. I've never even begun to think about the movie in that context. Not entirely sure that was Nolan's intention, but film can be like poetry - sometimes it's worth examining very very closely.

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  7. Brain rape! It's the best! (Bust up that company, kid! We only wanted you to feel better about your daddy!) And this film is a thundering, pretentious, soulless mess.

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    1. Aaannd boom goes the dynamite from the anonymous commenter. Shall you unveil the mask?

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  8. Great scene. To have such a dream-like quality - compared to other scenes in the movie - is quite amazing. Been meaning to watch Inception again and this makes me want to even more!

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    1. Nice. I love everything about this small little moment. Had no idea people appreciated it as much as me. Bitchin!

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  9. Agreed, my friend. It's a rare scene in which a vast assortment of notions are oh so subtly conveyed. It's my favorite kind of visual narrative. That is, saying so much by saying so little or nothing at all. Reminds me of a short film I saw in 2008, now that I think about it. ;)

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    1. Ha, nice. That is definitely my favorite kind of visual narrative as well. I think volumes can be spoken with glances.... obviously haha.

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  10. Great breakdown of what is also my favorite scene in Inception. The in-your-face skill displayed in the hallway fight makes a terrific action sequence, but this scene is by far the most memorable. That look...just...Wow.

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    1. Dude, I can't believe so many people enjoy this scene as much as I do, that is really damn cool. Murphy's look just says it all. A great tender moment from a great loud film.

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  11. This month I saw Jean Cocteau's The Blood of a Poet (1932), and there are wall climbing scenes (both the man and the girl) that reminded me of that very fight scene from Inception...

    Cocteau's film is very dreamlike, nothing is real, as they say in the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3scPy9ohKDc

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    1. Whoa, that movie looks incredible. I've gotta get my hands on that one. I'm a big Cocteau fan but have yet to see that. Thanks for the recco!

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    2. That's a really interesting trailer, insane to think it was 1930. It really reminded me of House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0NWIxl2VJk

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    3. Shiiiiit you told me about that one a while ago didn't you? I gotta check that out soon, sounded nuts.

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    4. @Evan: Never come across "House", going to give trailer a looksee! Thanks for the info

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  12. What a fantastic post. For me Inception is far from great but those last few minutes are fantastic, it was almost worth seeing the film just for this and "Time" in the background. Murphy was incredible, for me him and cotiliard left everyone miles away with the quality of their acting. The looks you mentioned are a true evidence for talent of those actors - in those short moments they packed so much emotion. I love the pride and happines on Page and Levitt's face, the shock on Dicaprio's and that curious melancholic look on Murphy's. Wordless but most emotional scene from the film.

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    1. See, I love this. I love that although a person may not like a movie as a whole, they are able to appreciate fantastic little moments like this one. 'Tis why I love your blogging!

      Fantastic insight from you here, and I simply could not agree more.

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    2. What a great comment! Now I may rent this movie again just to re-watch the ending.

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    3. Sati's brilliant, isn't she? If you're not reading her blog regularly, I highly recommend it!

      http://cinematiccorner.blogspot.com/

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  13. You made an excellent point about how difficult it is to develop a refined awareness of one's body movements -- it's one of the things that makes acting such a complex art. I hate seeing myself on tape because ... well, it punctures my denial about how much frigging weight I've gained ... but also because I feel like I'm looking at a completely different person. Apparently, I'm very unaware of my own movements and what I convey through my body language. Despite the fact that 85% of communication is said to be non-verbal. Realizing this makes me admire actors all the more.

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    1. I completely understand what you're talking about, and I'm glad to see that you understood what I was "going for" with my watching yourself riff there.

      The art of communication without actually speaking is one of the most crucial elements to acting, in my opinion. It's why I thought Gosling's work in Drive spoke volumes.

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  14. Inception is a decent movie. Right Alex?

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  15. Inception is my favourite of Nolan's films. I am mesmerized every time I watch it. The film is memorable for its action sequences and balancing of time periods, but it also has brilliant moments of character and acting, and this scene is one of the best. Murphy was great in this. So was Leo, Hardy and Marion. Love Steven's analysis of it. I always thought Murphy was thinking this: "Did something just happen?"

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    1. Nice man, glad to hear you like this flick and this scene in particular. I think one of the reasons I like Nolan so much is that he makes these big action blockbusters, but he actually let's his actors act, as opposed to just running and screaming and shooting and bitching. His characters have heart.

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  16. I love this scene, and I fucking love Inception. I think it's Nolan's best film, and moments like these are amazing. I really want to rewatch this now, such an epic and detailed film.

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    1. It is definitely very close to being my favorite Nolan film. I think a guy like you will appreciate how taken I am with it when I say it is the 21st century's 2001. So fucking epic. Indeed.

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  17. I love the way Fischer looks when he looks that subtle moment at Cobb. Like he first seems to remembers something, or seems to realize he remembers Cobbs face then a moment later thinks "thats not possible" or "it was just a dream" or "oh thats the guy who gave me my passport back thats why I remember him". And then he focusses back on his normal life things life as is was is just a memory of something unrelevant and continues with his life.


    When watching back the slow motion gif images people sometimes make of Cillians performances I noticed he often shows several stages of emotion and subtle facial expressions in only a few seconds, allowing almost to follow what happens in the mind of his character. He is a master of subtle acting, he does not need to make his character go cry or laugh to show they have a whole world of emotion going on on the inside.

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    1. So glad you like this scene. As to your second paragraph, I love what you said there. Couldn't agree more. Murphy is such a uniquely skilled actor of emotional expression; he simply never falters.

      Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!

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