Inception

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,
While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

Christopher Nolan may have made a deliberate nod to Poe's 'A Dream Within a Dream' in staging the opening of Inception, his most challenging work to date - or else Poe's poem planted that virulant idea in his head. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) wakes up on a beach, soaked, his face planted in the sand as we meet him. He has lost much, we discover. It is the cost of infiltrating the dreams of his marks, stealing their secrets, and selling them. What a thief, what a crimescene.

It comes as no surprise that Nolan began writing this film while making Memento ten years ago. It was pitched to the studio during the making of Insomnia, and subsequently took another eight years to write. That's no surprise either. Though some will criticize the characterizations overall, the plot is myriad and absorbing. It is driven truly by just one man - Cobb - and everyone else reacts believably to his actions. they are, reasonably, the support characters in his story. That is all about rejoining his family after exile, the details of which I will not reveal here.

It's just as well this film took a while coming to us. Nolan has had some time to up his game in reviving the Batman franchise, among his other projects. He was trusted with a formidable budget, one large enough to meet the demands of creating a world bound only by the limits of human imagination. And we must trust him to guide us through these dreams and their rules, which are all well explained and lend needed structure to a grandiose open world.

This is, in one sense, a heist film, which by itself endeared it to me, but aside from that it is a story about a criminal whose craft has cost him the most important thing in his life. Nolan appears to be fascinated by the bending of reality and perception - Insomnia was largely about trying to shape the way people see and remember not just ourselves but the people and events we have been party to. Memento was about seeing the world in a way that's truncated and backwards, but still with purpose. And it's clear from watching The Prestige that he is interested in tricks and deception and the extent to which people are willing to take those illusions to get what they want.

Much of that comes together here - there are constant warnings about the confusion of dreams versus reality, the real versus the fake. How the audience chooses to react to all of it will depend strongly on one's opinion about how important those distinctions are. And while there are sections of the film that sound laboured in discussing its themes, Nolan thankfully does not attempt to resolve any of the questions raised. Those questions are asked loudly and forcefully, but we are meant to ponder the answers.

You could dissect the ideas for years, making this a rewarding watch. The cast, composed entirely of the deeply talented and mostly of the A-list, is very well suited to the material. DiCaprio is the anchor, and we care for him and the fate of his wife (Marion Cotillard). The team Cobb assembles is a great mixture of smooth operators. Each is so well matched to their role that it's surprising the production trivia reveals there were ever any other choices.

Inception is a big, brilliant package of ideas. Its plot somewhat outstrips its characters, but not nearly enough to detract from the enjoyment of watching it, and them. Opinions may vary, but to me, Nolan has solidified himself as one of the smartest, most original directors working today. And like all good storytellers, he respects his audience enough to trust them with the depth and complexity of his words, his pictures - his dreams.