DHOPW42 wrote: ↑August 30th, 2020, 4:59 am
Vader182 wrote: ↑August 30th, 2020, 2:27 am
I recently reread the Inception shooting script with that interview with Jonah, and they talk at length about how you need a massive emotional stakes and clarity to guide an audience through a movie. It seems for the first time in his career he went too far away from that, seemingly on purpose (?) (haven't seen it yet). I wonder if he'll talk about Tenet through that lens at some point.
Interestingly, as days go by, I find myself thinking about this film on the same terms as I used to think about my favorite Nolan films. It's possible that this changes in the future, but right now I think that
Tenet is giving me all I love about the man's filmography - and, to be honest, the emotional core of his films were hardly the reason I fell in love with Nolan in the first place.
As an aspiring filmmaker myself I understand that, when we talk about emotional stakes, it means that it serves as a "subconscious" way of drawing in the viewer. It doesn't necessarily mean that people will actively realize how "emotionally deep" your film is, and how it is driven by that, but rather it works like water when you're trying to swallow a pill. Weird analogy, sorry. What I'm trying to say: I think there are emotions in
Tenet, there are emotional moments, but many viewers and critics think that it doesn't work well, or it doesn't form a coherent emotional core to draw audiences in properly. But, to me, this doesn't make a difference when compared to any of his previous works.
It would be too obvious to point out all the emotional aspects of
Interstellar or the Batman-films, or
The Prestige. But, for me personally, this was always the secondary aspect of Nolan's films, something to discover and immerse myself on second, third, etc. viewings. Even if it is obvious (like, I get it, Coop really loves his daughter), the primary experience I get from
Interstellar is the world that is built in front of our eyes, the large scale, the stakes arising from the plot, and the inner workings of this new world. Then, as I re-watch the film, I love to discover the complex morality and emotional drive of the heroes, villains, etc.
Now, this is where
Tenet is a bit unusual. I think the moral fabric of this film is quite straightforward. Gone are the complex, moral dilemmas of
The Prestige or
The Dark Knight, it's all quite simple. But I still think there are some exciting emotional moments to delve into and explore, so I just simply cannot agree with those who say
Tenet is completely devoid of character and emotion.
The fact is, as days go by, I'm growing more and more fond of
Tenet because it really harks back to my teenage years when I first saw
The Dark Knight and
Inception. And I already explained somewhere else that rewatching
Inception the past week didn't feel as satisfying as I thought it would. Seeing
Tenet proved me that Nolan
does change his game by making a more compact and "fresh" film. So, it's interesting for me to experience that I used to love
Inception for its spectacle and large scale, then as years went by I appreciated its emotional fabric even more, and now, after 10 years, it just felt heavy. And compared to this,
Tenet feels really refreshing.
Long story short: I have a feeling that Nolan made
Tenet the way he made it on purpose. And I see a progression in Nolan's style and approach to filmmaking.
Tenet is so 2020, if that makes any sense. Many people are still ranking
Memento as their favorite Nolan film, I myself always go for
The Dark Knight. Maybe that is telling, straight away. To me, TDK always embodied what I loved about the man, and
Tenet is really, really close to that at the moment.