A Masterpiece from Nolan

Rating: 9/10 (15 March 2020)

"Inception" (Legendary/ Warner, 2010) is a fictional film/psychological thriller, which also encompasses the theme of Heist, and which was nominated for several awards at the time of release, being written and directed by one of my favorite directors, Christopher Nolan (Memento, Dunkirk, Dark Knight, Interstellar, Insomnia). The story is about a mercenary (Don Cobb - who have a traumatic past) and his team who designs and extracts secrets from the subconscious of people during the team-created dreams, infiltrating themselves through a device and sedation. In a last job offered, the mission will be different - implanting an idea in the head of an heir of a gigantic company, and it will not be easy this time.
The script develops within Nolan's complex style, which require a little more than just watching the film, but rather to understand it, having several background details that are revealed as the film passes, and with a plot that evolves to the end with an upward curve in the action and drama within the film. The events and mystery in the tragedy of the protagonist life has a fundamental role and even echoes in the very end of the film, in the last scene. The film was highly acclaimed and awarded at the time, including an Oscar for cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects, and was also nominated for best picture, screenplay (both went to The King's Speech in the Oscar s edition), art direction and original musical score.
The cinematography has a Noir style, performed by Wally Pfister (who has worked with Nolan on other films such as Dark Knight, Prestige, Insomnia), an ultra-talented professional, who uses perfect angles in the scenes and sequences, with a good use of shades differentials in every situation and dream sequences. Each one have it own style, and in one of the sequences that takes place within a layered dream, the environment ends up spinning within reality, and being a cinematographer adept of naturalism (i.e. what one can do without effects in CG, he tries to do, which gives an additional emphasis on the quality of the production) the team used the same technique Kubrick used to simulate the zero gravity sequences in a 2001: A Space Odyssey. The locations were filmed in various locations, such as Morocco, NY, England, France and Los Angeles and were filmed in 35mmm anamorphic format (which expands the field of view and captures things that would be outside the angle of normal view) and also in 65mm in key sequences.
Lora Hirschberg's award-winning sound effects and visuals by Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley, Pete Bebb are also perfect and impress and immerse people in the film. The music track is by Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Lion King, Gladiator), who doesn't even need to comments on the references to his excellent work. In the cast, also outstanding, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper), Ellen Page (Juno, X-Men, Umbrella Academy), Marion Cotillard and Ken Watanabe (Last Samurai, Godzilla).
The movie is for me another milestone on the cinema, being smart, with top-notch photography, music, effects and sequences allied to a great background story with very good performances. It is for sure a classic to all those who like intelligent fiction movies.