Different Tales About the Need to Break Out
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) if they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative. However, due to COVID concerns I’m mostly addressing streaming options with limited visits to theaters, where I don’t think I’ve missed much anyway, though better options may be on the horizon. (Note: Anything in bold blue [some may look near purple] is a link to something more in the review.)
My reviews' premise: “You can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
Inside (Vasilis Katsoupis) rated R 105 min.
Here’s the trailer:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge its size;
activate the same button or use “esc” keyboard key to return to normal.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: We begin with a cluster of exquisitely-composed/lit-shots (throughout the film also, by Steve Annis, cinematographer) of a luxurious Manhattan penthouse while in Voice Over-narration our protagonist, Nemo (Willem Dafoe), tells of when a schoolteacher asked him to name 3 things he’d save if his house were on fire; he chose his cat, an AC/DC album, and his sketchbook (no family members) but later found if he had done so the cat would eventually die, he’d loan the record to a friend but never get it back, while the sketchbook remained because “art is for keeps.” He’s now involved in a complex art theft from that penthouse as a helicopter drops him off on the balcony, he has walkie-talkie-contact with an accomplice who gives him the access code to deactivate the alarm system, and he has just a few minutes to steal 3 expensive paintings by Egon Schiele. The first 2 are easy, but he can’t find the most-important one, a self-portrait, so he has to get out; however, when he puts in the access code to exit the place it instead sets off a loud alarm, shutting down every door (including the one to the balcony), with his contact telling him he’s now on his own. Nemo finally manages to get the alarm shut off (damaging the thermostat controls in the process) but soon finds there’s now no running water in the place, although the power seems to remain because when he opens the refrigerator (almost nothing there), the light and freezer still work, although if he keeps the door open too long it starts playing "Macarena" in a maddening manner. Anger soon gives way to desperation as the days go by (the owner of the place is on a business trip to Kazakhstan, apparently on an extended stay) as he can find no way out, his water supply is limited to an automatic system that feeds some plants in the place, and the broken thermostat first sends the heat up to a scorching level, then reverts it to near-freezing-temperatures.
Within the penthouse, there’s a multi-screen-surveillance-system of locations in the building so he can see when a maid (he calls her “Jasmine” [Eliza Stuyck]) is vacuuming outside his front door; however, his cries for help and banging on the door are useless because she’s listening to music on earphones, can’t hear him at all. Nemo’s only hope is the furniture structure he’s constructed in order to reach the skylight where he uses makeshift-tools to try to loosen the bolts that hold the cover in place so he could climb through the opening onto the roof, but that tedious chore hasn’t yet succeeded. In the process of his captivity, though, he comes across a hidden passage that contains the originally-sought-after-self-portrait and a copy of William Blake’s book The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790); he also begins hallucinating, even has a dream he’s at a party with the owner (Gene Bervoets) of the penthouse, also dreams of puppets, kissing “Jasmine.” Things ultimately get worse when he falls off of his structure, breaks a leg, has to fashion a splint for it but has nothing for his pain, so he distracts himself by making his own artwork on one of the walls. ⇒Finally, he sets off the fire alarm which drenches the dwelling, but no one responds to the situation. As the film wraps up we see Nemo writing a big message on the wall for the penthouse owner, recalling the story from his childhood, apologizing for the great damage he’s caused in the dwelling, noting that he ultimately didn’t steal any art, but “there is no creation without destruction.” (Reminds me of an insightful-refrigerator magnet in my kitchen (no joke) with a quote from musician Frank Zappa: “Without deviation from the norm, progress is impossible.”) Then Nemo makes another ascent on his constructed-tower, keeps repeating “I’m going to Heaven on a hillside.” The film's last shot shows the skylight with the cover panel gone so somehow Nemo managed to remove it, drag himself and his broken leg onto the roof, from where he could have finalized his escape, I'll agree to assume.⇐
So What? Before I go any further in this review with discussing Inside, though, I’ve got to clarify my chief objection to its foundational-premise that brought my stars-rating down a notch: If the guy who owns this obviously-lush-penthouse (huge in scale, high ceilings, famous art on the walls) has set up such an elaborate protection system that it even shuts off water when the alarm’s tripped, why isn’t there some alert sent by that alarm to the police, a security company, or even the building’s front desk? The same question goes for the tripping of the fire alarm that sent the equivalent of buckets of water into the entire place without any sense from anyone (downstairs neighbor?) something’s seriously wrong up top here. I guess you could argue that when Nemo dismantled the loud alarm response he somehow cut off any sending of a crisis signal to any intended recipient, but given the heating/cooling operations of the entire dwelling continued to operate (even if to far extremes with no way for our captive burglar to provide any control), I just can’t believe there was no outside agency being alerted to the thwarted-exit or the possible fire in the place. Truly hermetically-sealed! Damn!
Yes, I know, if you take my complaint seriously enough then there may not be as much interest as I (and the filmmakers) would like for you to invest in this most fascinating (although emotionally-draining) film, but maybe you can just put my (major?) objection aside and watch it anyway because Dafoe provides a monumental performance (that’s saying a lot for someone who’s already given us a career of magnificent-caliber-acting) that continues to intensify as the narrative runs its course, making him an easy contender for me next spring for at least an Oscar Best Actor nomination, if not (depending on what else emerges this year) the actual award. You’ve got to be superbly-skilled to carry any sort of (essentially) one-person show, which Dafoe clearly is in this instance as his character shows us how his fascination with art manifests itself as well in another aspect of the creative process as this distraught man uses every little thing at his disposal to find a way out of his unforeseen-prison. Maybe another rationale for accepting what we’re presented with here while putting aside the concerns I’ve raised above is appreciating this story as what people in the cinema business refer to as “high concept,” where a certain unique premise is intended to give audiences an alternative to what we’ve come to expect in genre stories that dominate our screens, where rom-com situations usually always work out for the lead couple despite complications that arise, where hero warriors of various types triumph over local-to-universal-villainous-threats, where an underdog-sports-team shows how much heart they have even if they don’t emerge victorious in a major game.
In “high concept” entities like Inside we get more-unique-situations where we aren’t sure where the plot will take us, but at least there’s the fascination of seeing something more-original, more-unlikely than what we’ve learned from past exposures or expectations (sometimes aspects of this even manifest in more-traditional-genre-movies, as [for me, at least] the basically-inexplicable, miniscule midi-chlorians in the Star Wars movies that exist in a person’s cells, with higher amounts of these things leading to stronger connections with the all-powerful Force). Inside (as best we can overlook my noted objections) gives us a very unexpected story that mounts in intensity, clearly allowing us to understand the growing-horror experienced by Nemo as days drag by for him. Animals don’t fare too well here either, as Nemo watches a pigeon fly through the netting around the balcony but slam into the glass door, ultimately dying as the equally-distraught-man watches; later, when his hunger is overwhelming him he eats a small tropical fish from an aquarium. (Which brings up another plot consideration for me: If the penthouse owner is going to be away for so long, how does this fish get fed? I don’t know of any device that would automatically dispense food for weeks, yet apparently no one was recruited to drop by occasionally for fish-duties or Nemo would have finally gotten his release, as he came in dressed in a maintenance uniform so he surely had a story ready to explain his surprising-presence. Oh well, like I said, this is a “high concept” narrative requiring more than the usual “suspension of disbelief” to be properly appreciated, so don’t let my sour grapes spoil your attending to this fascinating film.) An underlying theme amid all of this chaos is the relationship between art and life, both in Nemo’s personal preferences and in how what he ultimately learns from the art he encounters in the penthouse changes his perspective on life (in this vicious manner) explored in fine-but-concise-detail in this video (8:46; Spoilers) which also gives useful backstory on other art objects Nemo shares extended-time with, as he endures a literal hell-on-Earth-captivity.
Bottom Line Final Comments: With almost-simultaneous-opening dates across the Atlantic in Greece, Belgium, and Germany, Inside made its domestic (U.S.-Canada) debut on March 17, 2023, but obviously never made much impact at the box-office with total global revenues of only about $897 thousand; you won’t find much enthusiasm from the CCAL either, with Rotten Tomatoes positive reviews at 62%, the Metacritic average score in OCCU territory at 53%. However, if I’ve given enough reasons to consider watching Inside you’ll have to turn to streaming where Amazon Prime Video subscribers get it free while $5.99 rental options exist at Amazon Prime (I guess for non-subscribers), Apple TV+, Vudu, etc. If you need further incentive to watch Inside you might consult Katie Walsh in the Los Angeles Times where she says: “Katsoupis poses these probing and provocative questions about humanity but doesn’t offer any clear answers or messages. Rather, he lets his muse, Dafoe, simply inhabit this harrowing journey with his strange magnetism and sense of timelessness, in a performance that is simultaneously primitive and transcendent. Nemo becomes a figure straight out of Greek mythology, reckoning with the forces of creation and destruction, but it’s unclear whether he’s Sisyphus, Prometheus or perhaps even Icarus.” Nevertheless, there are others who encourage you to just stay away, such as Murtada Elfadi of Variety who writes: “With this premise, there’s ultimately no place to go. As the story unfolds, the audience feels as stuck as Nemo, with no escape in sight. The film has exhausted both the premise and its leading man’s capabilities, while the audience has grown tired of pondering whatever themes it purports to examine. It’s time to part ways, and yet the images keep flickering on screen and the film keeps going. ‘Inside’ has an intriguing premise and an actor who makes whatever’s thrown at him intriguingly watchable. What it lacks is sufficient sense of who this character is, and a resonant enough narrative to justify being locked up together.” You'll find other such clashes quite frequently.
So, I’ll leave it up to you as to whether to seek out Inside or not, with my opinion it’s worth your time (and a small fee if needed) for what it presents on the screen, regardless of my hesitation to rate it just a bit higher due to my (possibly irrelevant) demands of plausibility within a fictional scenario. Getting away from plausibility entirely into a realm of surrealism for my standard end-of-review-tactic of a Musical Metaphor I’ll go with Bob Dylan’s “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” (on his 1966 Blonde on Blonde album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kh6K_-a0c4 with its combination of a person trapped somewhere not desirable (“But deep inside my heart / I know there’s no escape”), ultimately haunted by unnerving-visions (“Waiting to find out what price / You have to pay to get out of / Going through all these things twice”). Nemo’s experiences don’t precisely parallel what happens in Dylan’s song, but neither situation's likely appealing for the vast majority of us, so lets be content in letting somebody else confront all these demanding experiences.
SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.
This is generally a biopic about a famous lucha libre Mexican-American professional wrestler—whose approach to these sports-entertainment-displays had developed in Mexico featuring lots of acrobatic movement, most of the participants wearing masks*—although some minor liberties are taken for usual dramatic purposes. Cassandro is the ring name of Saúl Armendáriz, a gay native of El Paso, TX who, especially in the 1980s-‘90s (but continued to wrestle until 2013, retired due to medical conditions), made a big name for himself. There’s much more about him if you like in this documentary, Cassandro, the Exotico! (Marie Losier, 2018, 73 min.), which is free on Pluto and Tubi, rents for $3.99 on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Vudu (RT rates it as 85% positive reviews [though just 13 of them]; MC says 76% average score, yet based on a mere 5 positives**); or, if you prefer, here’s a short video (13:02 [ad interrupts at 5:00]) about Armendáriz in Spanish with English subtitles, along with a fact vs. fiction account of how this current Williams feature matches reality.
*In recent decades some have made a name for themselves in U.S. pro wrestling, such as in World Wrestling Entertainment; the one I knew best back when I paid attention to WWE matches was Rey Mysterio who apparently is still active, currently reigning as the United States Champion (although WWE titleholders can fluctuate on a frequent basis). Way back in the 1960s when I first became fascinated with TV wrestling from Houston, TX some famous luchadores were the tag-team of Torbellino Blanco (White Tornado) and Ciclón Negro (Black Cyclone), both winners of many titles.
**Once again I’m befuddled by how MC comes up with their numbers because 4 of those 5 are listed as 80, the other at 63 yet none of the reviewers use any numerical ratings system, such as 3 of 4 stars, etc. so these numbers are just being assigned arbitrarily by MC staffers, which makes me a bit dubious about their veracity. Although, similarly the RT scores are based on a simple “yes/no” binary with those results often, in my opinion, a choice by a staffer more so that what’s in the review.
Returning fully, then, to the subject at hand we have the docudrama Cassandro, where the fame-hungry-protagonist is played spectacularly in a physically-excruciating-manner (no matter how much choreography goes into these bouts, the toll on the bodies is all quite real) by Gael García Bernal as a young man frequently crossing the Rio Grande river into Juarez, Mexico to wrestle as the masked El Topo, consistently losing his matches (there’s no direct depiction here of scripted encounters, but you don’t need them to see how this small guy would regularly be beaten by brawnier opponents). He meets Sabrina (Roberta Colindrez), a successful female wrestler, who agrees to be his trainer, finally encourages him to unmask, take on the role of an exótico, a man in drag, which he hesitates to do because they also always lose, yet he determines he’ll play the role but flip the script by winning, which he does gaining the support of the usually-homophobic-crowds so he becomes managed by Lorenzo (Joaquìn Cosìo), with financial success quickly growing, along with flirtation aimed at Lorenzo‘s assistant, Felipe (Bad Bunny), who tries not to abandon his hetero roots so Cassandro instead make a successful move on another wrestler, married (but closeted) Gerardo/El Comandante (Raúl Castillo). Ultimately, Cassandro ends up in Mexico City facing the most popular luchador in the country, El Hijo del Santo (playing himself), the Son of the Saint (Dad also famous).
⇒Cassandro loses via submission, but not before he wins over the crowd by running up to the balcony, jumping off to be caught below by enthralled-spectators, carried back to the ring. After the match, El Hijo celebrates him as well, later has him as a guest on his TV show. Sad events come to Cassandro as supportive Mom Yocasta (Perla De La Rosa) dies; then the affair with Gerardo must end by his wife’s demand; he never fully reconciles with his harsh, religious father, not married to Mom but with a wife and other kids, cared not for this son when Saúl came out at 15; but Cassandro continues on in his career, beloved by audiences.⇐ While this film opened on September, 2023 in a select number of theaters I have no info on income so your best hope of finding it is streaming, free to subscribers of Amazon Prime Video; the CCAL would back you up on the effort with RT 92% positives, while the normally-less-enthusiastic MC average score is 76%. I enjoyed it thoroughly—especially the marvelously-choreographed-visuals, the soulful-trumpet-soundtrack—found García Bernal’s presentation to be soul-stirring too, about a man who made it easy to pick my Musical Metaphor, “I Gotta Be Me” (written by Walter Marks in 1967 for the Broadway play Golden Rainbow [music, lyrics by Marks; book by Ernest Kinoy]), the Sammy Davis Jr. version, a big hit for him (1968 album named for the song) because while he’s not a gay Chicano, Davis Jr. had enough of his own social obstacles to overcome, which he did very successfully just like Armendáriz in his career.
Related Links Which You Might Find Interesting:
Some options for your consideration: (1) The Writers' strike is over; (2) Details of the new WGA contract; and (3) Actors' union authorizes potential strike against video game companies.
We encourage you to visit the Summary of Two Guys Reviews for our past posts* (scroll to the bottom of this Summary page to see additional info about your wacky critic, Ken Burke, along with contact info and a great retrospective song list). Overall notations for this blog—including Internet formatting craziness beyond our control—may be found at our Two Guys in the Dark homepage. If you’d like to Like us on Facebook (yes?) please visit our Facebook page. We appreciate your support whenever and however you can offer it unto us! Please also note that to Post a Comment below about our reviews you need to have either a Google account (which you can easily get at https://accounts.google.com/NewAccount if you need to sign up) or other sign-in identification from the pull-down menu below before you preview or post. You can also leave comments at our Facebook page, although you may have to somehow register with us at that site in order to do it (most FB procedures are still a perplexing mystery to us old farts).
*Please ignore previous warnings about a “dead link” to our Summary page because the problem’s been manually fixed so that all postings since July 11, 2013 now have the proper functioning link.
If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here at the blog please
use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work.
OUR POSTINGS PROBABLY LOOK BEST ON THE MOST CURRENT VERSIONS OF MAC OS AND THE SAFARI WEB BROWSER (although Google Chrome usually is decent also); OTHERWISE, BE FOREWARNED THE LAYOUT MAY SEEM MESSY AT TIMES.
Finally, for the data-oriented among you, Google stats say over the past month the total unique hits at this site were 26,816 (as always, we thank all of you for your ongoing support with our hopes you’ll continue to be regular readers); below is a snapshot of where those responses have come from within the previous week (with appreciation for the unspecified “Others” also visiting Two Guys’ site):
No comments:
Post a Comment