Inception, The Extra Man, Five Easy Pieces

Director Christopher Nolan (THE DARK KNIGHT, MEMENTO) should be a happy man, for he has realized his dream 10 years in the making, and made a fascinatingly intricate dream film which while much like a labyrinth, has clear and lucid flow and intensely dramatic plotting. Even though we might not understand the why or the how, we understand the action and the danger and the wonder. INCEPTION is basically a heist film, where a team of dream specialists enter the dream of a newly appointed (due to his father's demise) corporate executive to plant some ideas which will hopefully in turn benefit their client's company. Leonardo Di Caprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Hardy and Ellen Page are the main dream specialists, and Ken Watanabe their client. Things get complicated when Di Caprio becomes distracted (in his dreams) with the appearance of his dead wife. To make matters more involved, the team must infiltrate to a second and third dream state (a dream within a dream within a dream...!!!...) Oddly, much of the drama in each dream level plays out like a scene from a James Bond spy thriller or some other action-type film, though I didn't really mind. The cross cutting between all the simultaneous dreams really gets the blood boiling, even when the action becomes a bit preposterous. Still you have to admire the shear complexity and vision of the world Nolan has created, where a dream architect can create a Paris folding over into (onto?) itself, or where decaying high rise buildings crumble into an encroaching ocean just a few yards from stylish glass skyscrapers intermixed with country homes and stately mansions. I didn't find the film cold or soulless, either, as some critics and viewers have suggested, for DiCaprio's relationship with his winsome wife, played by the fascinating Marion Cotillard (LA VIE EN ROSE) is passionate and full of emotional yearning. (Is it a coincidence that the key musical "mark" for the dream team is from her Oscar winning film? I think not.) And even though Cillian Murphy plays the sting, he is so distraught over the unresolved feelings from the death of his father that his performance alone triggers great sympathy. The fantasy film is peppered with other great players including Tom Berenger, Michael Caine and Pete Postlethwaite, all to subtle and emotional effect. The special effects are thoughtfully and intelligently interspersed--and not too gratuitous. It really is a mind bender to watch a fight in a revolving hallway, which in turn is inspired from several other similar fantastic dream level actions. This is science fiction/fantasy of the highest order, created with meticulous care in plotting, music, photography, acting and editing, and with an eye for tickling the intellectual as well as the popcorn movie goer. I found it to be smart, stimulating, fascinating fun.
GRADE----- A

The opening night film at the recent SIFF was THE EXTRA MAN, and it has one very fine ace in the hole--and that would be the remarkable Kevin Kline, who plays a man who escorts (usually) older women to dinners, parties, opera, and such, and not for pay (per say) and not as a gigolo (or so he says) but for the experience. He lives very cheaply in Manhattan (!) and ends up taking in a young room mate who wants to learn the ropes. Kline has a way with the dialogue, making the silliest line nearly priceless, but alas, the film slowly meanders where it should be roaring, and some subplots (the young room mates penchant for wearing women's underwear, and a neighbor in the same building who is strange and hairy and talks like --- Dame Edna???--) especially drag the film to it's somewhat unsavory (says me) conclusion. GRADE------ C+

The classic film FIVE EASY PIECES (1970) is mostly remembered for the great restaurant scene where an angry and exasperated (and young) Jack Nicholson tells off an inflexible waitress to "hold the chicken between your knees"---but there are a number of impressive scenes before and after that really capture the frustration of a character who is very intelligent and musically talented, but has let his life slip down the social-economic ladder pretending to be an "everyman." Unfortunately, this has not made his life any easier or happier, and he finds himself in a loveless relationship with the annoying and superficial Karen Black. Black found great fame in the late '60s and early 70's playing similar characters, and was nominated for a couple of Oscars, but later became the butt of many jokes with her hysterical mannerisms and slightly crossed eyes. Still, she is a great revelation here, pathetic, yes, but vulnerable and amusing, too. The excellent cast includes Susan Anspach, Ralph Waite (The Waltons), a young Sally Struthers (All in the Family) and Lois Smith. Some of the movie takes place in the San Juan Islands. It holds up very well. GRADE----- A