Inception

Christopher Nolan ’s follow - up toThe Dark Knight – his psyche - bending magnum opusInception – is one of the most complex , visually stunning , and truly original sci - fi picture show ever made . It has the structure of a Hellenic holdup film , but with a unequaled wrench : the robbers infiltrate a man ’s dreams to steal an musical theme .

From nonlinear storytelling to equivocal symbolisation to work out hardheaded effects , Inceptionexhibits all the intimate stylemark of Nolan ’s flair . More than a decade after it strike theatre and became one of the biggest non - I.P. picture of all clock time , Inceptionstill hold up as one of the ultimate Nolan films .

Elaborate Practical Effects

Nolan is renowned for filling his movies with pragmatic effect . In an years when filmmakers massively overdrive CGI , Nolan stages his activity scenes for material so that all he has to do is designate a television camera at the stunt squad .

The director flipped an 18 - wheeler forThe Dark Knightand doss down a Boeing 747 into a repair shed forTenet . ForInception ’s trippy hall fight panorama , Nolan had a giant revolving hallway construct .

Nonlinear Storytelling

Nolan rarely tell apart his tale in chronological edict . Memento ’s master storyline is told in turnabout , Batman Beginsjumpsall over Bruce Wayne ’s pedigree account , andDunkirkfollows three separate story timelines ( an hour in the air , a day at sea , and a workweek on the beach ) .

by nature , Inceptionalso follows a nonlinear narrative . It kvetch off in media res , then bit by bit reveals Cobb ’s backstory and emotional baggage throughout the movie .

Cinematography By Wally Pfister

Nolan tappedhis go - to cinematographer Wally Pfisterto shootInception . Pfister had antecedently collaborate with Nolan onMementoandThe Dark Knighttrilogy , and he deliver the goods an Oscar for his work onInception .

Pfister has since become a managing director in his own rightfulness . When Pfister set off direct his own movies , Nolan started working with a new cinematographer , Hoyte van Hoytema .

Music By Hans Zimmer

Pfister is n’t the only unconstipated collaborator that Nolan recruited forInception . He also tappedhis go - to composer , Hans Zimmer , to influence on the score . Zimmer create his usual mesmerizing wall of sound to companion the mind - blowing on - screen action .

The medicine ofInceptionisn’t just limit to Zimmer ’s Oscar - put forward original score ; the soundtrack also makes great habit of Édith Piaf ’s “ Non , je ne regrette rien ” as a diegetic piece .

One-Word Title

Nolan loves a single - worded picture show championship . All of his films   have frosty one - Bible titles except forThe Prestigeand the Batman movies , which were based on pre - existing reference stuff . Three of them – Inception , Interstellar , andInsomnia – begin their one - word title with the same two letter of the alphabet .

Nolan ’s next film , Oppenheimer , also has a one - Holy Scripture title . He ’ll probably never make a movie with a recollective , unwieldy title likeFear and Loathing in Las VegasorThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford .

Noir Elements

Noir is one of Nolan ’s favorite genres . Mementois the stuffy he ’s made to a straightforward neo - noir , but almost all of Nolan ’s movies have element of film noir .

Inceptionis a genre cocktail of noir and cyberpunk . Cobb is a classical hard - boiled antihero , Mal is a Hellenic femme fatale , and the cinematography is specify by softened color and expressionist light .

The Hero’s Wife Is Dead

Nolan ’s films oft admit departed wife . InInception , Cobb is stalk by the computer storage of his wife , Mal , who took her own life . Mementois all about an amnesic homo trying to figure out who mutilate his married woman .

InInterstellar , Cooper ’s married woman died a while ago off - CRT screen . InThe Prestige , both magicians lose the loves of their lives : one die of drowning in an semblance gone wrong and the other is kill when she observe out the secret behind the caper .

Toying With Time

Nolan enjoy using the force of picture palace to act around with the flow of clock time . Tenetis a James Bondian undercover agent escapade in which the broker use sentence travel to send bullets back in clip .

InInception , the dreaming existence go slower than the waking world . Every dreaming level is slower than the last . Nolan spends most of the film cross - cutting between substantial - clip , dull - motion , and super slow - motion .

Recurring Actors

The mavin - studded cast ofInceptionincludes a couple of frequent pardner who have been in a bunch of Nolan ’s moving picture : Michael Caine plays Professor Stephen Miles , Cobb ’s mentor and father - in - law , while Cillian Murphy plays Robert Michael Fischer , the target of the dream rip-off .

Some plaster bandage membersended up work with Nolan againfollowing their employment onInception . Tom Hardy , Marion Cotillard , and Joseph Gordon - Levitt were all cast inThe Dark Knight Risesafter starring inInception .

Ambiguous Ending

Unless the narrative is taken from changeless historic events , Nolan ’s films tend to end on an ambiguous notation . At the close ofInception , Cobb lastly recall home to his kids and uses his totem – a spinning top – to confirm whether he ’s still in a dream . The top keeps spinning and spinning and spinning until the shot cut to black on the secondment it starts to topple .

This conclusion implies that Cobb could still be in a dream , but he does n’t care – after everything he ’s been through , he just want to be with his kids , whether they ’re projections or not .

NEXT:10 Scorsese Trademarks In Goodfellas

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Split image of Cobb holding a gun and Arthur in a revolving hallway in Inception

Rotating hallway from Inception

Cobb looks at the spinning top in Inception

A train tears through a street in Inception

Eames (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) listens to music in Inception

inception page and dicaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio holding a gun in Inception

Mal with wind blowing on her face in Inception

The van hits the water in Inception

Michael Caine sitting behind a desk in Inception

The spinning top at the end of Inception

Inception