Dying to See

I am frequently accused of near-paedophilia due to my love of boyish-looking boys. I'm hoping it's not due to some weird, buried childhood memory and just a simple case of different courses for different horses.

I do actually believe I may be growing out of this long-running phase (my current beau has chest hair and facial hair), however I have always come back to Leonardo Di Caprio. Obviously I can see his physical flaws (oh, that chin!), and personality-wise ... who knows? I have often noted with a slight tinge of bitterness (as in, I can never marry him gosh darn it...) he is a modeliser of epic proportions. However, his extreme talent makes up for all of this. I watched What's Eating Gilbert Grape more times than I would like to remember as a tween/teen/adult, and most of his other films have similarly riveted me. Even if the film sucks (let's just say I preferred Revolutionary Road to the other film he starred in with the same co-star), his performance is always marvellous.

So I am currently close to wetting my pants in anticipation of seeing his latest offering, Inception.

I have taken the liberty of setting out the conversation between Margaret & David from the ABC's At The Movies re Inception. See if you are also not almost grabbing the Teenas until you see this film.

Inception
Review by David Stratton

Cobb, LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, is, by his own claim, the world's most skilled extractor. This means he is able to steal ideas and secrets from the minds of his targets by entering their dreams. He gets paid large sums of money for this, though he's increasingly haunted by the memory of his dead wife, Marion Cotillard, who literally infiltrates the dream scapes. Cobb is hired by wealthy Japanese businessman Saito, KEN WATANABE.

Saito wants Cobb to plant an idea in the brain of Robert Fischer Jr., CILLIAN MURPHY, the heir to a rival business empire; for this 'inception', Cobb assembles a team that includes his regular assistant Arthur, JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT; Eames, a British shape-shifter, TOM HARDY; scientist Yusuf, DILEEP RAO; and a brilliant young woman recommended by his father-in-law, MICHAEL CAINE - she's Ariadne, ELLEN PAGE.

At first viewing, Christopher Nolan's dazzlingly complex INCEPTION is not easy to comprehend fully - I think that it's one of those films, like BLADE RUNNER or 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY, that will repay many viewings in order to grasp all the intricate details of these multi-layered trips into the dreams and nightmares of the central characters. At a time when the vast majority of Hollywood films have no ideas whatsoever, it's quite inspiring to receive a film over-burdened with ideas, and visual excitement, almost to the point of sensory overload.

Driven by a gallery of charismatic performances, Wally Pfister's superb cinematography, Hans Zimmer's powerful music score and some amazing CGI effects, including the streets of Paris rising up and folding in on themselves, this is a truly unforgettable movie experience. The climax, in which several dreams, and story-lines, are intercut to dazzling effect, is particularly memorable. There's a quirky sense of humour, too, in the employment of the Edith Piaf song, "Non, Je regrette rien" as an important plot point - it was the song Marion Cotillard sang in her breakthrough Piaf bio-pic. INCEPTION is a film I'll want to see again and, probably again; but on first viewing, its initial impact is mind-boggling.

Further comments
DAVID: Margaret?

MARGARET: Isn't it amazing, we're all talking about it days afterwards.

DAVID: I think everybody will be talking about this film.

MARGARET: , "If that's that, could that be that?"

DAVID: Yes.

MARGARET: Look, honestly, it's so interesting conceptually.

DAVID: Mm.

MARGARET: He's such a good filmmaker. It's the best performance Di Caprio has given in ages and, ultimately, what I loved about the film is, despite all the action and the CGI, it has compassion at its heart.

DAVID: Yes.

MARGARET: It's really beautiful, whichever way you interpret the ending.

DAVID: Well, there are so many interpretations.

MARGARET: It's compassionate, on any level, and I love it. I think - he spent 10 years working on the screenplay for this and obviously, you do want to see it again to - like MEMENTO, although I think this leaves MEMENTO for dead, and I've got to tell you the other mind-bending film that DiCaprio was in, SHUTTER ISLAND, INCEPTION leaves that film for dead. It's just streets ahead of anything I've seen in a long time.

DAVID: I think we're talking about an instant classic, actually...

MARGARET: Yes.

DAVID: ...which people will be talking about years to come.

MARGARET: Yes.

DAVID: What are you giving it?

MARGARET: Well, I'm giving it four and a half and I wonder why I'm not giving it five, but I'm giving it four and a half.

DAVID: Well, I'm giving it four and a half too.