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Christopher Nolan's time inverting spy film that follows a protagonist fighting for the survival of the entire world.
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dragon_phoenix wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 1:45 am
Paradoxicalparabola wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 12:36 am
dragon_phoenix wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 12:21 am


I concur. I watched TDR with 0 spoilers. The Joker's social experiment for the bomb in two ships scene surprised me and sends a powerful positive message.

Nolan is at heart a very optimistic person.

Only Memento and Following are inherently very dark piece (but not that sombre). The rest of his feature films basically have a very positive message for humanity, albeit with occasional bouts of darkness.
His films tend to be more morally complex actually and I hope he keeps doing that in the years to come. The prestige is pretty dark once you realize that none of them did only good or positive things since they went to great lengths for their obsession. Insomnia too.
Yea but The Prestige and Insomnia are not original screenplay, so there's any so much he can change the story.
Still he chose the projects so he knew.

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Nicolaslabra wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 1:06 am
It comes to me as a bit of a shock that so many people view Chris`s cinema as depressing or somber, there are elements of that sure, but almost all of his endings suggest a very optimistic person behind them, after all Chris Nolan is one who rages at the dying of the light.
Not always depressing or somber. That’s just part of his stories; the moral complexity and ambiguity. Sometimes it can have dark or horror elements. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t show positivity. Relax

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Paradoxicalparabola wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 7:47 am
Nicolaslabra wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 1:06 am
It comes to me as a bit of a shock that so many people view Chris`s cinema as depressing or somber, there are elements of that sure, but almost all of his endings suggest a very optimistic person behind them, after all Chris Nolan is one who rages at the dying of the light.
Not always depressing or somber. That’s just part of his stories; the moral complexity and ambiguity. Sometimes it can have dark or horror elements. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t show positivity. Relax
I mean you basically said what paradoxicalparabola just said but in different words...lol

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Dunkirk is one of the most spiritually uplifting films I’ve ever seen.

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To some extent, Inception is about Nolan exorcising the darker, more cynical elements of his work. Obviously having kids probably has something to do with that. I think he's even said this. There's an optimistic worldview shift post-TDK

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His films have become more and more optimistic. Memento and Following are pretty desperate, the character is never able to understand reality, in Insomnia in the last scene there is a shade of hope, it is possible through ethic to get the better of our biased judgement of reality. TDK is his last very pessimistic film imo. Even if nobody is able to destroy the other boat, they are still able to vote for it, which in a democracy is pretty scary, also Dent's arc, and the idea that a lie is better for justice than the truth.
Inception, TDKR have happy ends, but in each of them, Nolan gives you reason to think that he's not showing you the real end. It even led some people to suggest that Cooper died in the tesseract in Interstellar, and that the ending was a dream, trying once again to find darkness in Nolan's ending. Also, for a film that has such a happy end (humanity survives, find a planet to go to), it is amazing how sad the ending feels (Brand's loneliness, Murph about to die). He mostly plays with the same emotions at the end of Dunkirk (Dunkirk is a victory, but there is still melancholy with the local newspaper and the burning spitfire. Also the music he chose is the one from his father's funeral.)
I think all his endings are moving. And they have been more and more uplifting.

Also in interviewat the beginning of his career, Nolan described himself as a pessimist, and now he says he's an optimist, so he also has changed, and his film shows his own evolution.

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Demoph wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 3:36 pm
His films have become more and more optimistic. Memento and Following are pretty desperate, the character is never able to understand reality, in Insomnia in the last scene there is a shade of hope, it is possible through ethic to get the better of our biased judgement of reality. TDK is his last very pessimistic film imo. Even if nobody is able to destroy the other boat, they are still able to vote for it, which in a democracy is pretty scary, also Dent's arc, and the idea that a lie is better for justice than the truth.
Inception, TDKR have happy ends, but in each of them, Nolan gives you reason to think that he's not showing you the real end. It even led some people to suggest that Cooper died in the tesseract in Interstellar, and that the ending was a dream, trying once again to find darkness in Nolan's ending. Also, for a film that has such a happy end (humanity survives, find a planet to go to), it is amazing how sad the ending feels (Brand's loneliness, Murph about to die). He mostly plays with the same emotions at the end of Dunkirk (Dunkirk is a victory, but there is still melancholy with the local newspaper and the burning spitfire. Also the music he chose is the one from his father's funeral.)
I think all his endings are moving. And they have been more and more uplifting.

Also in interviewat the beginning of his career, Nolan described himself as a pessimist, and now he says he's an optimist, so he also has changed, and his film shows his own evolution.
Not being cynical, but when you have more than 100M USD in your bank account, and an impeccable reputation as one of the best living directors, you tend to be optimistic.

I do think he found the right balance of optimism in Inception. While the ending is deliberately ambiguous, it is obvious that Cobb has gotten over his trauma so whether he's dreaming or living, it doesn't matter. The mood of the movie has also never gotten overly serious.

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m4st4 wrote:
June 4th, 2020, 3:28 pm
Terrifying. Two weeks from now cases are going to spike in the US...

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Weird thread.

The Dark Knight Rises is one of the most cynical blockbusters of all time. It ends with permanent condemnation of our social systems and law enforcement, but that there will be people fighting for change. Sure, that's a hint of hope, but only a glimmer.

His last two movies have been more positive, though.


-Vader

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