Writer/Director - Christopher Nolan

**ajaybaskar** · 18th July 2010, 10:37 PM

P_R,

I am not getting your point. Fischer initiates the dream. Enter first level. Cobb, Adraine, Arthur, Eames, Yousuf, Saito kidnap Fischer and travel in a cab. Now Arthur initiates the dream. Enter 2nd level. All go to the hotel room and so on..

In Arthur's case, the fall is not the kick but splash of water is the kick. If he was the first to initiate the dream, a fall itself would've served as a kick. But here he is the 2nd.

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**Nerd** · 18th July 2010, 10:50 PM

There's plenty of answers/discussions in the imdb forums. One needs patience to seep through the spam and find the right posts. I don't hve it.

In the theater I watched there was hardly any response for the climax. I was impressed though. I still can not forget multiple calls of WTF after the credits started rolling in NCFOM.

Digression(!): Revisited Following yesterday. Adhula allAmE puriyudhu without any help. And it also has some stupid visual cues like the last shot in which *SPOILER* Cobb disappears into the crowd

Nevertheless an excellent film, very well written.

**P_R** · 18th July 2010, 11:06 PM

That's why we see 'tumbling' effect first in Level 2 when the van hits the bridge in Level 1. But not a 'kick'. The 'kick' needs a bit more magnitude, one presumes.

I thought so too. But was wondering if this was mentioned somewhere (given that pretty much everything was mentioned

) and I managed to miss it.

Originally Posted by ajaybaskar

In Arthur's case, the fall is not the kick but splash of water is the kick. If he was the first to initiate the dream, a fall itself would've served as a kick. But here he is the 2nd.

No. The 'reality' is the flight. Only a kick there will wake up Fischer.
In Level 1 the dream is initiated by Arthur. So a 'kick' there should wake him up and pull him back from Level 2 (the hotel).

But I guess the breaking of the bridge is not strong enough and that is they are woken up only when they hit the water. I was just wondering if I managed to miss some dialogue.

**P_R** · 18th July 2010, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by Nerd

I still can not forget multiple calls of WTF after the credits started rolling in NCFOM.

Cracks me up each time I hear that. I remain annoyed.

Some parts Nolan overexplains and makes convenient conversation (people talking too much or surface-y in first meetings), that didn't sit well with me. But overall highly excusable.

**ajaybaskar** · 18th July 2010, 11:10 PM

Does the music has anything to do with Arthur's waking up? I forgot that one...

**Nerd** · 18th July 2010, 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by P_R

Some parts Nolan overexplains and makes convenient conversation (people talking too much or surface-y in first meetings), that didn't sit well with me. But overall highly excusable.

Yeah. The multiple levels and the sedatives were explained 2-3 times at least. So andha parts ellaam fairly well understood but first 15 mins dhaan suththamaa puriyalai.. Where did the dream start, the purpose of it, the twist (audition) etc.. Should watch again.

**P_R** · 18th July 2010, 11:29 PM

Originally Posted by kid-glove

Originally Posted by P_R

Originally Posted by ajaybaskar

K_G,
\Now Nolan has hacked ur id.. Yes, U can take this as a compliment as well..

k_g, are you taking this as a compliment?

Nolan would be cringing for sure.

I meant in the context of our discussions about 'intention'. Was wondering if 'being Nolan' would be a 'compliment' you'd inclined to think as the ultimate.

I just read Satish Naidu's review, where he kinda says, the film stops short of being great because it leaves very little room for the individual to bring his own imagination to the table to enrich his viewing experience.

Many of the sentences in the review struck me as very true and seemed to inform me better about why I like what I like.

the ending frame has every member of every audience in every part of the world unite, having the exact same thought, and wanting the exact same outcome, and wanting it most desperately. That, dear reader, is audience manipulation of the highest kind, the evidence that we are witnessing a craftsman, an illusionist the likes of which cinema has probably never witnessed.
....
....
What bothers me is what have I felt and experienced that my neighbor didn’t. And if the answer to that is nothing, which it increasingly seems is the case, then does that make Inception a lesser film? Or a greater one? I ask you.

**complicateur** · 18th July 2010, 11:42 PM

P_R,
Regarding the mechanics of the kick - It must be delivered in the level above the dream level. For example - One doesn't wake up from a dream when dunked water is splashed on one in the dream. One wakes up when water wakes up when water is splashed on one in reality. In fact the very first test that Saito sets up uses the very same example. Cobb is dunked in a tub of water in the riotous city (Lukas Haas's first level dream) and he wakes up from the second level which is Saito's oriental Geisha house dream.
So the inverse should imply that the first kick should happen in the hotel and should've been initiated by Arthur. But then that doesn't explain how the time suddenly condensed from a week to 60 minutes. So I am still slightly confused.

Ajay,
Consider the music as a counter. An end of a movement indicates an end of a loop in each dream. Now what would be interesting (and I cant remember this coz I was sufficiently drunk while watching the film) is to see if in the background score shifts time at each level of the dream.

Where I am hitting a wall is how Fischer is made to believe something through Eames' dream level? What were the mazes that Ariadne constructed? I guess I will need to watch again. Hopefully rum-less this time.

**kid-glove** · 19th July 2010, 01:53 AM

I agree P_R. I did reveal my disappointments to Sid_316 (in private) about the ending.

Even If I need to watch the film again, this film makes one to debate what they saw. Not many big budget Hollywood film elicits such a response out of its audience. That I'm not sure I should post long posts on this film. I wrote one earlier but withdrew from posting. It's that long.

**kid-glove** · 19th July 2010, 02:50 AM

Compiled my thoughts here..

Addendum:
Multiple interpretations of the ending is less rewarding..As I said, the fake-ending is more 'spiritual' than we might think. It's the only moment of unison for all the audience, that's of delight. The slow-mo and slow, upbeat music is very 'transient'. Not a lot of words are spoken here. Saito begins the plan for Inception with a rhetorical question, Are you ready to take a leap of faith..Older Saito, in Limbo, repeats this question too. And both is sandwiched in the film by Mal uttering a similar rhetoric before committing suicide (all this according to Cobb), to take the leap of faith in uniting with her, in death...So perhaps the quest here is 'spiritual', how ironically, the whole film is of "Corporate" espionage. Where individuality has no face value.. Yet this film has existential themes of redemption and spirituality.