Biopics, the destroyer of narratives.
Conservative by nature, limited in scope and direction, anchored to its historical accuracy. Many films have come and baited for some free Oscars, but very few have left a lasting impact after their awards season.

And here comes Nolan, entering his 20th century Oliver Stone era, as he hones in on all the techniques he's come to master over the last 20 years to deliver maybe perhaps the best & most memorable traditional biopic since... Catch Me If You Can (does it even count with it basically being pretty much totally untrue?)

On the surface, you may think it's one more historical character study of a man and his hurdles to get to the thing that makes him famous, but Nolan's got bigger plans. He's going to encapsulate the story & its aftermath to be told through a dual perspective narrative told 10yrs apart from each other as we try to piece together what the fuck is going on inside Oppy's head and if he truly is sus in this very surprisingly well-crafted political conspiracy thriller.

Barely a single moment in its beeg chungus 3hr runtime is wasted as they all come in play to cast hopes & doubts to Oppy's entire persona and his motivations. The 1st hour goes through so much so quickly, that alone makes me want to rewatch the film again (another staple Nolan intention - making you wanna revisit and spot anything new you might've missed). The editing plays it all hella tight, with barely any room to catch your breath as we glide through the showstopper moments you'd came to expect from the man and witness some of the most downright savage pieces of dialog & acting that I would've never dreamed of experiencing in a Nolan script.

Cillian Murphy brings forth his entire Oppussy as he finally gets to take center stage and stare you down with his eyes of doom. Much of the big name supporting cast gets to hide away into the performances of their characters, especially RDJ as the lowkey jelly af bad bitch Strauss. Emily Blunt is probably the only one of the big cast who almost gets nothing to do (that is until she gets 1 iconic scene), so that'll be my only gripe on that.

Though the pacing can be a bit overwhelming in places for you to keep up with (especially on a first viewing), this is without a doubt another complicated, yet rewarding structure that Nolan has gifted to us all and reminds us once again why he's truly one of the GOATs - together with finally proving once and for all that he can indeed write a script.

💐 Flo doin the commie lord's work and giving Nolan his R-rating
❤️ Ludwig's booming OST
❤️ The sound mixing (working this time)
❤️ Einstein
❤️ Realistic boom delay
❤️ Kyoto Honeymoons
❤️ Gary Truman