Academy Awards Best Picture Focus: 'Inception'
by Andy Neuenschwander
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In Yidio's Academy Awards Best Picture Focus section, we take an in-depth look at all 10 films nominated for the 2011 Oscar. Today we take a look at a fan favorite and box office smash that managed to score a Best Picture nomination, "Inception"
About the film:
Before "Inception" writer/director Christopher Nolan was known for his Batman films, he was known as a man with a gift for unique and original storytelling. His cult hit "Memento" played with story structure in a way that was new and exciting, and "Inception" is a true follow-up. The story is set in a world where trained professionals can enter a person's dreams and extract (or in this case, plant) memories, information, and ideas. A team lead by Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is hired to break into the mind of a young professional about to inherit his father's company and plant an idea. The result is a sort of reverse heist that plays across multiple dreamscapes with different scales of time, creating a "ticking clock" thriller that varies in speed depending on which level of the dream the characters are inhabiting.
Why the nomination for Best Picture?
"Inception" truly has a fascinating and innovative way of telling its story. There are definitely some points being awarded for originality here, but that's not to say that the movie isn't deserving of its place: it is well-directed, well-paced, and features some stunning visual effects. Sci-fi thrillers don't often get nominated for Best Picture, but when they do something that hasn't been seen before, their chances of making it increase.
Other awards nominations:
"Inception" is up for eight Academy Awards: Hans Zimmer is nominated for Best Original Score, and Nolan is nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Other nominations include Art Direction, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects, and of course Best Picture.
What are the chances?
"Inception" is one of the films that might not have been nominated for Best Picture if the category was still only five nominees. The movie was generally well-liked, but it was still a rather polarizing film: some loved it, others hated it. Some critics found it to be joyless and considered the performances to be a bit flat, while some audience members found it to complicated and convoluted. "Inception" is an excellent movie, and certainly a thrilling one, but it's just not "Best Picture material." Look for it to win some of the more technical awards, though, with a good chance at Art Direction and Visual Effects.