Inception

Dreams are a very basic (even if complicated) and common subject to tackle. Many movies feature dreams within and around their plotline but how many have you seen that work their plotline within and around dreams? I'm sure there is (or was) an expectation that dreams are too nonsensical to really appropriately be the prime backdrop for a film yet Christopher Nolan has ingeniously found a way to make such a film that works and with only a handful of surreal elements.

It's difficult to make a movie about dreams and accurately reflect them because dreams aren't accurate. Visuals are obscure and often undefined but how can you make a movie with such obscurity? The dream world our characters find themselves in is very detailed and seems to reflect real life too well but Nolan gets around this by craftily blurring the line between dreams and reality. While you might miss its implications the first time through, there is a scene in the movie that hints at the reality Domm Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) finds himself in and at what ultimately turns out to be a very thought-provoking and meaningful final shot.

There are probably many plot points and logistics that will not quite be fully solvable. One could study the film over and over and perhaps find and/or create explanations that will fit, but doing so takes away from the experience. No, ultimately this is a movie about dreams is it not? So what if the plot confuses us a little? Like a dream, by the end we know where we are and have an idea of how we got there and even if the details are fuzzy, the feelings are very much describable and real.

This is a movie that will be referenced in film history, partially for its unique topic and top technical expertise but mostly for the character of Cobb and the emotions involved that take us to a new depth... almost as deep as a dream within a dream within a dream.