Films/DVD Asylum

RE: A species unable to solve its problems on earth and then going off to settle another

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In Reply to: RE: A species unable to solve its problems on earth and then going off to settle another posted by tinear on November 10, 2014 at 19:36:12

You're thinking too hard, Tin.

Inception had a very simple thesis--that you could influence someone to the core by planting a thought in their head. We've all done this, where we said something that was taken so seriously and deeply by someone else that it altered all future interaction and the course of a relationship or life.

Interstellar also had a very simple thesis that built on the inception thesis. Best summarized when Coop said, "I promise to come back for you." Nolan always builds a complex plot around his theses, like layers of an onion, but his real gift -- what he does so well -- is he makes it relatable on the human level so that at the climax he can strip it all down to that core thesis.

Sure enough, when Murph was asked how she knew Coop was coming home, how she knew to keep trying after Caine's deathbed confession that he had no intention of solving the problem, and how she knew to not give up and walk out of that room without the answer...sure enough she said she knew because her dad had promised her he'd come back for her.

It was their love for each other that made it happen, and by hammering that at the climax with the right words, visuals and music, Nolan again elevated his film making. He has it down to a science and formula himself and it works. Very similar to Prestige, which also involved a key to deciphering a "real" magic trick, and a daughter being returned to her rightful guardian.

I won't get into Nolan's Batman trilogy. All three were great films that elevated the superhero genre. But I didn't care for Memento. Any film that uses nonlinear time as a gimmick like that (or like Pulp Fiction) just makes me feel like the director lacked the ability to make the story interesting if told sequentially and it bugs the crap out of me to see this approach taken, but that's more of a personal pet peeve.

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