Whose dreams are we in now? | The Buzz | Movie

Christopher Nolan's Inception is first and foremost a wild experiment: a visually stunning, convincingly acted, fast paced and action-filled thought experiment. The film is long, at times confusing, and often feels rushed, with so many clever ideas – such as the Escher-inspired impossible staircase – given only a fleeting chance to surface. It's a picture creaking under the weight of the directions writer and director Nolan lets his basic premise take him. Yet Inception doesn't break under stress.

The plot revolves around Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a professional thief whose expertise is entering dreams of unsuspecting subjects and stealing information from their minds while they lay unconscious. In a final assignment, however, he is forced by a former victim (Ken Watanabe) to put together a crack team not to extract information, but to place a nascent thought in an oil magnate's (Cillian Murphy) head, an idea that will grow and blossom, or fester, in the victim's subconscious and change the course of the world.

While the plot is entertaining enough, it is the meditation on the repercussions of being able to design and enter dreams that kept me on the edge of my seat: what could one get up to in someone else's dream? Could the sleeper become aware that his dream was being invaded? How would one know the difference between a dream and reality? And after all, what is the substantive difference between a dream and state of wakefulness? How does one ultimately judge what is real?

As with his Batman films (Batman Begins and The Dark Knight), The Prestige, Insomnia and Memento, Nolan is at his most moving when exploring the often-terrifying darkness of the human condition. This is what puts him apart from other action-oriented directors in Hollywood. In Inception, Cobb sinks himself night-after-night, into an artificially created dream full of memories of his dead wife. The sadness of his addiction is made horrifying by the question of why a fantasy that brings happiness, or at least satisfaction, is considered less valuable than a miserable reality.

Of course Inception is still an action movie, with set pieces worthy of a James Bond or Bourne flick, fight sequences that push the boundaries of what can be choreographed – hand-to-hand combat in a room with continually shifting gravity anyone? – and thankfully, realistic special effects: none of this James Cameron rubbish. These physical aspects play a support role to the characters themselves, who are sketched expressionistically enough in the case of Dicaprio's Cobb and Ellen Page's Araidne to make the viewer sympathise with their motivations.

Inception is far from perfect, but its pitfalls are the flipside of its hungry inventiveness. And while there were times during the film where Ariadne's dramatically ironic "Hang on, whose dream are we in now?" is well placed, I left the auditorium unexpectedly unconfused, but appreciably thought-provoked.

Summer of Love

As Julia Roberts unleashes lots of warm and fuzzy love in the new film Eat, Pray and Love, we ask three hunks what their favorite chick flick is:

Alok Nembang: My Best Friend's Wedding

"This is my favorite, but I love chick flick movies in general because you don't need to think too much while watching these movies"

Manoj K.C.: A Walk in the Clouds

"Although not technically a chick flick, I live this movie because it's very romantic and like a fairy tale."

Jems Pradhan: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai

I occasionally find myself sitting through an entire movie wishing it would end. Some are not bad though, like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.