Film Analysis : 'Inception'

Inception is a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. The reason I have chosen the film is because of the relationship that portrays through the family and team members as well as the visionary effect beyond their capabilities. Dominick Cobb, the protagonist of the film is the industrial spy known as corporate espionage utilizing the technology to infiltrate the target’s information through their subconscious. The rising action is Saito involves Cobb in the ‘Inception’ mission which is implanting an idea in Robert Fisher’s subconscious. Cobb agrees as Saito offers to assist him to eliminate Cobb’s criminal status that resists him reuniting with his children. Cobb assembles his specialized team, Arthur, Ariadne, Eames, Yusuf and Saito. The climax of the film is the implementation of their plan and invades Robert’s subconscious through the dream. The responsible will remain to set up a “kick” to awaken the team members from the difference in depth of dream. The first level of dream, they are attacked by projections from subconscious and continuously with second dream where they are sedated into a hotel. Robert trusts Cobb that indicates he was Robert’s subconscious protector and leading him to the next level of the subconscious. Next, Mal’s projection appears to kill Robert at fortified mountain hospital. Then, Cobb and Ariadne entered limbo to rescue Robert and Saito. Robert is rescued by Ariadne and revived at the previous dream where he discovers the projection of his father to express his last will. The falling action is when the team member has the synchronized kicks back to reality but Cobb stays in limbo to find Saito. The resolution is Cobb returns to his children in the United States and uses a totem to inspect the realism of the world but he never observes the result as he joins his children.

Inception is a science fiction action film released in 2010 directed by Christopher Nolan. The film concept is the process of inception which is the implementation of an idea into people’s subconscious. The team will structure the concept of a dream related to distortion of reality. The execution of the concept is conducting the multi-level dream according to the plan through the person’s subconscious. The terms inception portraying the target is unnecessary to implement false information but leading them to construct their own main idea. The multi-level dream in Inception has been portrayed through a different level of dream and mission. Besides, the concept of dreams coalesces through the psychoanalytic process which is the behaviour of interactions on memories that adapt the component of the mind. The initial goal of the ‘Inception’ is Cobb wishes to meet his children as he is restricted to return home. The theme is about dreams. The exploration of dream space through the unconscious mind. Inception begins with the process of dreaming through a person’s subconscious. The dream is imagined where secrets and vague feelings are vulnerable to extraction. Cobb prohibited Ariadne from building dreams with memories which enable to lure the dreamer off from reality. The message is avoidance isn’t a solution as Cobb tries to bury his regrets in his subconscious without intended to solve it. Despite, the inner sufferers and issues will haunt him as he avoids them.

Leonardo DiCaprio is an American actor who plays Dominick Cobb, the protagonist of Inception. He has a clean and appealing appearance that portrays the successful businessman look. His identity is a professional thief and dreams extractor who works in corporate espionage as an industrial spy. His job is to steal the corporate secrets from the subconscious of high-profile targets through the utilization of experimental military technology that infiltrates through the target’s subconscious. Cobb is considered as the criminal from being falsely implicated as he is under suspicion of killing Mal that causes him unable to return home. He performed inception on his wife as she has lost herself in their subconscious and tries to bring her back to reality which causes her wife died. Cobb's persistence delivers where his insistence on the plan and never forgetting his mission to return back to his children. He also persists to complete the mission as he is forced to deal with his wife's projection. He is a loving father where he accepted the dangerous mission in order to return to the United States to reunite with his children, Phillipa and James. He has a tough time to return to his children as he wants to have physical interaction with them.

“Inception” incorporates the genre of the heist, adventure, psychological thriller and science fiction. The heist genre occurs as the unauthorized intent to permanently seize someone's property. The concept portrays through the action of the team lead by Cobb. Cobb assembles the team with specific roles and functions that enable to structure a perfect inception plan. Cobb’s team plan to infiltrate Robert’s subconscious to obtain the secret that relates to the secret of Robert’s inherited his father’s company and convince him to give up on his inheritance through inception. The inception process is through various levels of dream. Besides, the genre that indicates the traits of science fiction is the advancement of technology. “Inception” portrays a world where the military has invented the dream-sharing technology that connects the subconscious to experience the same dream space and infiltrate people’s mind with the specific structure that they plan. They are able to experience the realism of the dream in reality as there is a connection between the time in dream and reality. Lastly, the thriller genre is conveyed through the intense mood as the film involves fighting, terrorism, stalkers and overlapping mystery stories. The scene involves a huge number of car chases and gunshots that convey a dangerous atmosphere especially in the ‘van chasing’ and ‘snow fortress’ scene.

The cinematography of ‘Inception’ is located in an urban area with modern cities and architecture. The ‘Cafe Debussy’ that is located in Paris is where Cobb reveals to Ariadne that they actually are within a dream. Through the dream, Ariadne tries to build the dream structure through memories but is prevented by Cobb. The colour palette in ‘Inception’ is monochromatic which are vividly white and grey. ‘Inception’ utilizes the combination of low-key lighting and three-point lighting. The low-key lighting is to create deep shadows with high contrast to achieve intense scenes. The film adapts the shadows and dark tone in colour to create a critical mood in the film. For instance, the serious conversation between Cobb and Saito is portrayed in low-key lighting to enhance the intensity of the scene. The three-point lighting is portrayed through the “rim light” setting that functions as the character to appear from the background with a dim situation. The camera technique that adapted in ‘inception’ is an extreme long shot that covers a wider area to focus on the surrounding. For instance, the Fortress Mountain scene shows the audience the situation of the characters against the snow climax and tension surrounding. The song “Non, je ne Regrette Rien” it’s a prompt to awaken the characters from dreaming and creates tension for a specific scene.