LAKE OCONEE — Inception

Rated: PG-13 (for sequences of violence and action throughout)



I remember how back in college my philosophy professor lectured us on what is real and what is perceived to be real. He used English words, but the sentences sounded like word salad; nothing made sense to me. It was worse than gibberish. It was like that comic Carrot Top’s jokes. I had a sudden desire to plunge a pen in both eyes and end my suffering.

Sadly, many people will try to explain the meaning of “Inception” and that feeling, if you ever experienced it as I did, will be déjà vu all over again. Don’t let them do it to you. I plan to ignore anything that might cause brain implosion. I don’t want the effect to be spoiled.

Some things should not be explained, only experienced; like a trip through a fun house designed by Salvador Dali or perhaps a ride on a roller coaster after ingesting a tad too much Nyquil. Such is the case with

“Inception.”

This movie is about the world of dreams. Writer and director,

Christopher Nolan who brought us “Memento,” brings us another clever, original, and freakish foray into the cinematic arts.

Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a corporate idea-stealer. He does this by going into people’s dreams and stealing good ideas. Zillionaire Saito (Ken Watanabe) hires Cobb to invade a man’s dreams to implant a bad idea. Cobb can’t do this all by himself, naturally.  He has a team that includes an architect of dreams (Ellen Page).

Surely you have seen the trailers: a city that resembles Paris folding over on top of itself and a train rolling down a city avenue and guys beating up each other in a room that spins around. Think that is mind-blowing? How about a dream within a dream within a dream?

Here is a warning: don’t take the half-gallon soda in with you to see “Inception.” The pause button does not work with the big screen. Not that missing a few minutes will make the story easier to understand, but you don’t want to miss one odd-ball hallucination. Not a moment of this double heapin’ helping of weird with wacko sauce should be missed. Two and a half hours of this is long, but I wouldn’t have wanted to lose one confusing minute of it.

Look, I am sure I did not understand “Inception” but I don’t care. I am sure I missed the tributes to about 10 or 30 other movies, but that is what a DVD commentary is supposed to explain. And, yes, I got the SF/Noir/Hitchcock/Kubrick/Edith Piaf/Matrix/Fred Astaire/Carl Jung/M. C. Escher allusions. But who knows? Maybe there was a Kermit the Frog

connection that I missed.

The cast is spectacular, the effects jaw-dropping, and the ambience is robust and unflinching. There is a bit too much psychobabble but I am hard-pressed to think what I would cut out. I know I am repeating myself but I must begrudgingly admit, it was, perhaps, too long; but I wasn’t compelled to poke out my eyeballs; they just got a little itchy.

On the other hand, this multi-layered, Rubik’s Cube of a movie is supposed to be like a Russian novel on “Extasy.” "Inception" isn’t a Hallmark Card. Think of it as a Wagnerian Opera that is enjoyable to watch…I mean without the fat lady with the helmet with horns…and music that causes a migraine.

I loved it.



“Inception” earns four and a half bow ties out of five.