Watched in the cinema (10th anniversary revival)

Christopher Nolan allegedly took 10 years to write the script of "Inception". What came out in the end is one of my absolute favorites from him and nothing less than a masterpiece. The film is a journey deep into the human psyche, threatened and unstable by life's traumas, and into our dreams, which are sometimes too much connected to our memories of the past and what still exists.

"Inception" is one of these films where almost everything is perfect for me: from the script, the actors, the camera and the soundtrack. Each of these points has been perfected in a breathtaking manner down to the smallest detail. The story is so beautifully twisted and mysterious, which of course is more than typical for Nolan by now. He obviously was inspired a lot by the anime "Paprika", but I don't think thatt's something to be mad about. The symbolism (e.g. Cobb's spinning top), hidden clues about the nature of the individual scenes (dream etc.) and details in the dialogues make the movie almost endlessly easy to watch without getting boring.

The action scenes are stunning, because Nolan still prefers practical effects to CGI. This makes everything look much closer, more realistic and tangible. Moreover, the story is the exact opposite of that of a predictable movie: you just never know what might happen next. And on top of that the movie has one of the best endings ever for me. I saw the film in the cinema in 2010 and I have never seen before or since that the entire cinema hall collectively held its breath and that tension was released in a common exclamation of relief at the moment when the credits began. Magic moment!

The actors are perfectly cast in every single role and they all deliver in an impressive way. Of course Leo Di Caprio as "Dom Cobb". But also Elliot (here still Ellen) Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, as always Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe and of course one of Nolan's "go-to actors" Cillian Murphy, as already in the Batman trilogy and in Dunkirk are excellent for their roles.

Apart from the great performances, the characters are also very well written, especially "Dom Cobb", so that it's easy to get over the "mind-blown level" from the purely visual aspect of the movie to the quite personal and emotional level. Therefore, it's not only the sci-fi-spectacle that stands in the movie's focus, but also has a much deeper core, because you can easily recognize yourself in this topic of dreams and holding on to memories, and almost everyone can relate to it through their own experiences.

Hans Zimmer's soundtrack is in my opinion one of his best and most influential ever. The way he combines orchestral music with modern sounds is unique. The piece "Time" alone is an absolute masterpiece, a beautiful allegory for life in 4:36 minutes.

In addition the film looks simply overwhelmingly good. The locations, the effects, the dream worlds, the high-rise buildings and the surreal constellations and developments. Nolan has made it his mission to pull the rug out from under you, visually and literarily, whenever you think that a thing is now complete or finished, or whenever he surprises you with completely new paradoxes.

On August 26th, I'll watch his new film "Tenet" in the cinema and I'm pretty sure it will blow my mind.