today went to watch for a second time ,found certain new things i missed previously.skip the lengthy story ,I'd like to summarise this movie ,in case you found it very hard and time consuming to read the long ,lenghty passage down there ,swt
there are several rules I'd like to introduce .
what's an architect ?
an architect is a person who designs dreamworld ,constructs places ,streets and small details of real world to make the dream looks real ,in other words ,to create a close-loop to deceive the subject's mind so that he will think it's reality,the maze is designed so that as the subject runs around it,he can never reach the boundary or edge of it ,and subsequently realises that it's an imaginary place,and the more complicated the maze the more time they will have before the subject's mind start to realize that he's in other people dream,and will react violently to find the dreamer to drive him out,the subject subconscious' projection will lead them to the top secret they try to extract.an architect can manipulate real world architecture and physics and teach them to each dreamer.she or he may not necessary enter the dreamworld ,they can choose to stay behind . but in this case ,Ariadne wants to follow Cobb into the dreams ,as she knows that Cobb is very unstable now ,and will bring in his own subconscious projection such as Mal and his own kids to the dreams ,the others still haven't known about his secret and this can endanger the whole mission ,as his wife Mal can always turns up and ruins it.the train we see in the first level running and crashing into their car is actually the projection of Cobb subconscious.
dreamer
an achitect may not neccesary have to be a dreamer at the same time.dreamer is the host of a dream level,and whose dream is filled with the subject subconscious.he or she can manipulate the design on that level ,create a dreamworld ,such as when Cobb wants Ariadne to show him what she could do in 5 Min's ,they enter into a dream whose dreamer is Ariadne and filled with Cobb's projection ,she can change things on that level ,create new things ,but the more she changes ,the more attention conjured on her .and when a dreamer is killed ,the dream is destroyed .this is shown when Aurthur is killed at the beginning ,the building in level 2 start to crumble down ,and Saito start to wake up.and Aurthur as a second level dreamer can set up tricks like the endless staircase ,paradox.Eames who is the third level dreamer can add a shortcut to get into the snow fort.a dreamer is like us,when we dream,we create our dreams,sometimes the places may not be something we are familiar with but we don't feel strange about it until we wake up from it.and i feel like when i am close to waking up ,which is when my mind enter into rapid eye movement stage ,i can actually control or manipulate the dream ,i can reverse back the scene after it's happened when i don't feel like the ending ,i can twist and change it into my own version ,or if i know there's something bad going to happen to my characters in the dream ,like stuck in a house and zombie is after me ,i can simply shrink myself to an ant size and hide in certain places before it's gone and I'm back to original size ,or i simply can jump from roof to roof before taking off to a flight ,or rather i can dream the bars of window to have disappeared so that I'm able to get out of the house.sometimes ,i can control my dreams ,just like the characters in the movie do .i can totally relate to the feeling of them confused about dreams and reality ,cause in a dream ,it feels good to have the power of controlling over something,and everything seems lucidly real that you choose not to wake up from it.
extractor
a person who is skillful and trained to extract thoughts from the subject's mind.it's possible also to place an idea ,if you placed deep enough ,as the deeper you go ,the lesser control your conscious areas of brain has over the dream,hence the more influential will the idea planted turn out to be.the idea planted can define a person or destroy him.
the subject
whose subconscious is actually brought inside the dream ,and thoughts is extracted from.
projection
a manifestation of a subject 's vision of reality,projection populates the dreamworld.
and it's said that when we dream ,we create our dream and proceed to find our true self simultaneously,Cobb's job is to find a shortcut through that process ,replaces the creation part with his own,manipulate the subject subconscious so as to get the secret he wants.
1.time seems to double or lengthen as you go deeper.5 Min's in reality can be 60 Min's in dream.this is because your brain works fast in dream ,when Cobb and his wife wake up from limbo ,he says it's as if old souls in young bodies .
2.the physics of each level is disturbed by what's happening above .when yusuf swerves around the corner ,Aurthur is thrown sideways ,this affects the dream in which he hosts,and the hotel floor goes askew,inclined.and when rain water splashes on his face,the weather turns from sunny to raining on second level.when the van falls off the bridge ,Aurthur 's sleeping body is thrown upwards and suspended in the air ,this causes the second level to lose gravity.
3. kicks,designed to bring you back from the level below to the level in which the kick is initiated.this is shown at the beginning of the movie ,when they are trying to extract info from saito's mind,the second level dream is destroyed when Aurthur dies,but Cobb is not waken up yet,then Nash dunks his body in a bathtub full of water ,the kick wakes him up ,this suggests that you can wake up from a dream either by using kicks ,death or simply wait for the timer of the machine to stop and release you from the dream.when they take heavy sedative to stabilise dreams within dreams,they are specifically told that it will not impair the inner ears function and they could still feel the falling sensation ,which is the kick ,and they demonstrating it by tipping the chair to wake Aurthur up ,i believe Aurthur isn't under sedative at that moment ,they are simply just showing how a kick will work to Ariadne.however ,taking heavy sedative means that you'll need two synchronised kicks ,a kick from your current level and a kick from where your sleeping body is ,to drop yourself at the same time , Aurthur says :his music warns me ,and when the van hits the barrier ,it should be unmistakable,and i will blow up the room ,so we will get a nice synchronised kick. before the van gets chased off the bridge ,yusuf places a headset over Aurthur 's ears to warn him that a kick is coming and he needs to get ready to create a kick on second level exactly at that moment,and the synchronised kick will bring them back to the first level.but the kick happens too soon ,and Aurthur isn't in any position to start off the second layer kick ,hence he is not able to pull off simultaneous kicks and this explains why he does not wake up from the second level dream when the van falls off the bridge.and after Mal's killed Fischer ,Cobb says to eames ,who is trying to revive him using defibrillator, that it will not work ,because his mind is trapped down there,and let's set up the charges,if a kick from the level above was enough to pull them back ,why did eames bring the charges along in the first place?it seems to me that they have planned it before they entered the dreams.and Ariadne suggests to go down there and bring Fischer back,she says we go down there to create a kick for him ,when the music starts ,use the defibrillator ,we will give him a kick down there ,when it stops ,blow the charges.the falling sensation and the defibrillator wakes him up to third level.they preferably choose kicks or waking up naturally after 10 hours rather than death,because in this case ,death throws you into limbo,which is an unconstructed dream scape,a place of raw,infinite subconscious,and you may easily lose grip on reality.
under normal sedation-death and kick from above level wake you up
heavy sedation-two simulataneous kicks are needed ,one from above level and one from the current dream state in which you are in,this is to boost the effect of kicks as you are under heavy sedation,it's harder to wake up than usual.
4.never recreate places from memories ,as this will make you feel lost and no longer able to distinguish between reality and dreams .
5.totem .an object created by dreamer to help him figure out weather he's in reality or a dreamworld .Cobb's totem ,or rather Mal's ,is a top ,that will keep on spinning ,infinitely in dreams.never let anyone touch your totem ,this is because if they knew your totem ,the weight,structure and shape of it,they can fake one ,and this will defeat the purpose of a totem ,and they can con you into a dream in which you believe is true .
6.when you die in you dream ,you simply wake up from it .but if you are injured ,you will feel real pain.if you died on sedative ,depends on the strenght of it ,if it's the normal sedative you use,as what Aurthur and Cobb did at the beginning of the movie ,you wake up from level 2 dream ,back to level 1 which is the hotel room .
7.the deeper the dreamstate,the lesser control of your consciousness have over the dream and the harder it's to wake up,dream becomes lucid and more vivid as you do deeper ,and you may lose track of what it's real ,no longer able to differentiate between reality and dreams ,hence your mind will not try to wake up and slipping into a coma state.
so questions ,
how Mal and Cobb got out of limbo in the first place ?
i presume that they didn't take any forms of sedative when they go to sleep ,i know you may ask how come the dream level can become so stable for them,if previously they didn't take any sedative.later i will present the explanation which i think is the most probable .Cobb says they were experimenting,and he wanted to go deep down ,to see how many levels they could descend to ,but he didn't realise that the deeper they went ,the easier they'd lose grip on reality,and start to lost sight of what's real ,and they constructed buildings from their memories ,such as Mal's childhood house,this made it even difficult for them to see the truth and Mal becomes increasingly convinced that the dream she's in is real.this is what prevents them from waking up ,because the mind wouldn't want to,they are in a state of ''coma'' or at the brink of their subconscious.and Cobb incepted her ,as they realised their minds were trapped down here,and they had no one up there to kick them back up,as cobb ,the dreamer had gone down there with mal,when the dreamer is gone ,the dreamworld is destroyed ,and the link to levels above is cut off completely ,hence this left them the only choice of leaving limbo by death.they had been on their own ,instead of leaving people on each level to activate the kicks,then Cobb decided to create his own kick by killing themselves to wake them up from dreams within dreams,he just thought of trying ,cause they were the first person down here and didn't know weather it's work ,but it truly brought them back ..without anyone help,depends solely on the feeling of imminent death in limbo.
this establishes a rule:when you are in limbo ,and your mind is trapped within ,you can kill yourself to leave limbo.the condition of this rule applied is that you shouldn't take any sedative before that or when the sedative has worn off.then you can jump from limbo straight to reality ,there's a shortcut from limbo back up to reality.but the thing is will you dare to try ? the courage of killing yourself isn't something you can scramble up within ,and what if you are wrong ,then you'd be truly dead by then.and it's also likely that you are trapped down there for so long that you think it's reality and choose not to kill yourself.
Cobb and his team use a heavy sedative to stabilise the dream levels so that fisher will not wake up as the mission proceeds ,but the side effect is when you die you go to limbo ,and lost there,cause your mind may try to wake up but your body wont ,because of the sedative in your blood.and by the time the sedative wears off ,it can be years down there in limbo,and your mind slowly become trapped and muddled,that you choose to believe the world you are in is real and may not kill yourself to leave .when saito is shot ,yusuf says he will die and trapped in limbo ,and can only wait for the sedative to wear off before he can leave.but will he choose to leave by then ?
kicks can also be used to pull you out from limbo ,as Cobb and Mal never tried doesn't mean that it wont work. the kick in limbo(ariadne pushes him off the building )and the kick in third level(electric shock) brings him back.
Cobb found saito ,and he's already an old man,their sedative has already worn off,as the dosage they used lasts only 10 hours ,the span of flight from Sydney to LA,but the problem is now Cobb seems to forget the purpose he came here for,Ariadne specifically told him not to lost himself before she jumped off the building ,but years in limbo can impair your memory ,but the conversation with saito makes him remember ,and he convinces saito that the world he's in isn't real ,they kill themselves with gun and goes back to reality . the first rule of limbo can be applied here:death can escape limbo .and straightaway back to reality without having to pass through those 3 layers in front,there's no other way to explain this ,they wouldn't have been able to go from level to level as Aurthur them already back in the plane ,and the three levels dreams have collapsed and no one is there to kick them from level to level,and this is also possible for them to leave by death,as the sedative effect already worn off.
and you may ask why Aurthur death at the beginning of the movie didn't send him straight from that specific dream level to reality ,i have thought about the answer ,i think possibly they take a normal sedative (but not the yusuf's specially formulated sedative),it makes sense that they are on a mission and they will not want to blow it up by having the subject (mr.saito)wakes up before they get what they want from him .but mr.saito did wake up from the second level dream before Cobb ,this maybe not due to the effect of sedative ,but rather it's because the second dream ,dreamt by Aurthur has already been destroyed as he's shot in head by Cobb.
and the ending ,omg ,I'm so happy that i saw it ,it's a reality for me !maybe you will have different evidences or proofs to show that it's a dream ,but it's all simply due to different opinions we have,and the ending is rather ambiguous and unclear . I'd like to stick to the belief that he wakes up and comes back to reality.i found the clothes his kids wear in dream are not the same as in reality,they aren't wearing the same clothes exactly ,although it may be just subtle difference ,but the difference is still there.in his dreams,his daughter wears a pink dress and the shoes she wears are of dark brown or black coloured,and his son wears a green and red checked shirt with a very obvious-looking red strip going down from the top of the collar at the back of his shirt,and he's playing on the ground before Philipa runs to him ,then in reality ,i mean in the ending part,she wears a pink dress with a white shirt inside,you can tell form the sleeves,and her shoes are white coloured ,his son wears a green -blue checked shirt and the RED STRIP at the back is gone !and Philipa is kneeling beside her brother playing with him ,her head jerks up when she hears her dad is back.
and how did Cobb get washed up on the shore next to saito's house in limbo? i don't think I'll be able to find any answer to this question ,this is because as we are told from the beginning ,don't you always not remember the beginning of your dream ?the dream seems vague and hard to recall ,i have always just remembered the behind part or the middle when i dream ,and dream can jump from dream so easily.hence it doesn't make sense trying to explain here ,or crack your head for a possible answer.
inception(part 3)
and there is something about the ending that makes me wonder so much,i could only think of two alternatives:
1. he's still dreaming ,this can be seen from the part where he reached home and his children ran to him,they looked exactly like the projection of his subconscious,they hadn't grown,the clothes they wear didn't change at all,this creeps me out a bit,but it can be possible also ,if he only got away for months (as things moved fast in limbo years,and hence it might even be only months in reality) ,and i assume that when he left ,he didn't get to say goodbye to his children,and he had missed them since ,hence his subconscious projected their shade when he's in a dream ,but he couldn't bring himself to look at them ,he wouldn't ,and i think it's one of his burden,which he hid deep inside.another burden and pain came from his wife ,he'd caused her death in the first place ,and unable to shake off the feelings of unbearable guilt and self-hatred( this is indicated when his wife ,which was part of his subconscious,always turned up and ruined his plans -and can only be explained as he hated himself much and the job that had taken her away,and in a state of being unaware of how bad things could turn up to be,his subconscious overrided him and merely proved to act against it_against everything that was closely associated to the source that had taken her away from him ),when his wife called him to look at their children ,he resisted the urge ,cause he knew that if he looked, he'd truly believe what she had said ,believe that the dream was actually real ,and those were his real children,and he would stay back with them.finally he could let her go ,and the endless torment of remorse stopped, he's able to leave the past behind and no longer haunted by the ghost of her gentle presence.however, in the end,the scene of children faced him cant be verified as something that is going to tell the viewers it's still a dream or reality for Cobb.This's because it all depends on the dreamer-Cobb himself.as he had already ended the guilt he had felt for Mal ,and which meant to him,there was no longer fear and worries for facing his own children,even when they were in his dream.
2)he's actually back to reality.as he didn't wear the ring he'd been wearing when he's in dreams.and that the saito who had got so much older in the limbo,why didnt cobb aged when he's in limbo,maybe because saito had become lost in time and thought that the world he's in was actually real ,and cobb still had the faith inside him ,able to keep his mind clear and hence limbo had no effect on his mind and physical appearance.to go back to reality ,you had to first realize that limbo wasnt real ,and kill yourself .he went back to saito and told him the truth, which i think after that he laid his hand on the gun ,he killed cobb and then commited suicide ,to initiate the kick ,and they all went back to the real world .i think if you are in limbo ,you do not need to get pass those 4 layers ,you can simply jump from limbo to reality when you die there =.= another guess . the genius of the whole movie is that the director left the ending ambigious and contradictory .>< there will be debate going on ,as long as this movie is still on screen .oh god...
1. he's still dreaming ,this can be seen from the part where he reached home and his children ran to him,they looked exactly like the projection of his subconscious,they hadn't grown,the clothes they wear didn't change at all,this creeps me out a bit,but it can be possible also ,if he only got away for months (as things moved fast in limbo years,and hence it might even be only months in reality) ,and i assume that when he left ,he didn't get to say goodbye to his children,and he had missed them since ,hence his subconscious projected their shade when he's in a dream ,but he couldn't bring himself to look at them ,he wouldn't ,and i think it's one of his burden,which he hid deep inside.another burden and pain came from his wife ,he'd caused her death in the first place ,and unable to shake off the feelings of unbearable guilt and self-hatred( this is indicated when his wife ,which was part of his subconscious,always turned up and ruined his plans -and can only be explained as he hated himself much and the job that had taken her away,and in a state of being unaware of how bad things could turn up to be,his subconscious overrided him and merely proved to act against it_against everything that was closely associated to the source that had taken her away from him ),when his wife called him to look at their children ,he resisted the urge ,cause he knew that if he looked, he'd truly believe what she had said ,believe that the dream was actually real ,and those were his real children,and he would stay back with them.finally he could let her go ,and the endless torment of remorse stopped, he's able to leave the past behind and no longer haunted by the ghost of her gentle presence.however, in the end,the scene of children faced him cant be verified as something that is going to tell the viewers it's still a dream or reality for Cobb.This's because it all depends on the dreamer-Cobb himself.as he had already ended the guilt he had felt for Mal ,and which meant to him,there was no longer fear and worries for facing his own children,even when they were in his dream.
2)he's actually back to reality.as he didn't wear the ring he'd been wearing when he's in dreams.and that the saito who had got so much older in the limbo,why didnt cobb aged when he's in limbo,maybe because saito had become lost in time and thought that the world he's in was actually real ,and cobb still had the faith inside him ,able to keep his mind clear and hence limbo had no effect on his mind and physical appearance.to go back to reality ,you had to first realize that limbo wasnt real ,and kill yourself .he went back to saito and told him the truth, which i think after that he laid his hand on the gun ,he killed cobb and then commited suicide ,to initiate the kick ,and they all went back to the real world .i think if you are in limbo ,you do not need to get pass those 4 layers ,you can simply jump from limbo to reality when you die there =.= another guess . the genius of the whole movie is that the director left the ending ambigious and contradictory .>< there will be debate going on ,as long as this movie is still on screen .oh god...
inception(second part)
the plan is actually based on three layers,with Ariadne designs the structure of the dream for each level ,and guides the dreamer through his dream based on what she has designed.and the subject subconscious,in this case is the Fischer's is being brought into the dreams,and those people follow along ,they know they are dreaming hence their subconscious are not affected.on the first level ,they kidnap Fischer ,ask him about the combination of password his dad has told him ,but he knows nothing of it ,then they threaten him with his uncle(it's rather is eams,disguised as his uncle,and convinced him to believe that he's been beaten and tortured badly) out of sheer intuition and fear ,Fischer says a series of numbers(528-491) which later he uses to open a safe containing his deepest secret,and his uncle(eames)suggests to him at this level that his father isnt what he seems like,he loves fischer in his own way ,the first idea planted.then they get away in a van and cobb tells him to drive carefully because the dream below will get more unstable before they enter into Aurthur dream while yusuf stays behind ,monitoring the situation on the first level .the rest arrive at a hotel ,eames disguises as a hot blond girl,flirting and hence distracts fischer of the fact that he's dreaming,Cobb takes up the role as mr,charles,who is the security of subconscious, trying to convince Fischer that he's dreaming by pointing to him the strangeness of his surroundings ,such as the weird weather and gravity shifting,there are people trying to infiltrate his mind and steal info from him,trying to make him believe that people around are against him (rather it's the security force,which is the defense system of Fischer trying to protect him from Cobb's invasion),turning him against his own subconscious,.as fischer becomes aware of the fact that he's in a dream ,his projection start to seek out dreamer,then the memories from first level started to come back,Fischer remembers he was kidnapped and asked about the password ,but he couldn't remember who did that to him(as Cobb team wore masks all the times to conceal their identities)and the memories seems vague and fuzzy.and he thinks that it's the reality when he was kidnapped,but in fact it's only level one )his true self is sleeping on a plane flying to Los angelas.and as he remembers back ,it seems that he's generating the idea himself ,this facilitates the inception as it will be planted more deeply and solid in the subject's mind.and cobb asks him did he see his uncle being beaten ,twisting the fact ino something that his uncle trying to sntach the company from his hands ,and here his projection of uncle peter Fischer drops a line about he should create something for himselves-now Fischer ,angry and feeling betrayed ,he decides to ''go'' into his uncle 's mind,which in turns favours Cobb's team ,as Fischer is convinced unwaveringly that he's doing inception of his own on his uncle,Cobb is able to go even deeper into Fischer's subconscious,and Ariadne asks '' whose subconscious are we in ?'' ,i know exactly how she feels that time ,the feelings puzzlement and confusion stacks high over each other.Aurthur is in charge of second level.
on third level ,Mal bubbles up again ,and she shoots Fischer ,Cobb,caught up in his own guilt and unmasked grief ,unable to pull the trigger in time to stop Mal.and in the first place ,a kick is designed to bring people from one level below to the level in which the kick is initiated.before that,they have taken sedative,specifically told that it will not disrupt the equilibrium of the ears,and kicks from multiple layers are enough to bring them back.but the kicks need to be timed perfectly so that each will work in order,in a flawless sequence,one after the other,hence music acts as a cue to the people in the level below so as to synchronise each kick.this is shown when yusuf is forced to start the countdown earlier,and he put the headset over Aurthur's ears to warn him with the music that the kick is coming to wake them up from second level but they need to be awake at that time for the kick on first level to work and bring them back to first level.So Arthur blew up the elevator on second level to wake them up from the snow fortress dream so they could then be woken up by the car hitting the water on first level.and that's why Cobb said that they'd missed the first kick when the van fell off the bridge,because they are on 3rd level ,and their bodies on 2ND level havent been awakened from this snow fort dream.starting the kick on the first level before the people on second level have been woken up will not bring them back.then they could only wait for the 2ND kick ,which was when the van plunged into water(worked exactly like scene when Cobb's body had been dunked into a bathtub full of water ,he felt water exploded and rushed in from everywhere ,flooded over him and woke him up from his dream)i simply assumed that it's the way those kicks work ,since the scenes on 2nd and third levels were interspliced with the van going down to the water in the first level,and it follows this sequence-explosion in the snow fort,the propelling of elevator against gravity and then the moment the van hit the water )and the physics of each level gets destabilised by what's happening above ,which is shown when the van gets chased off the bridge by the pursuers and they get into a state of free falling in a slow motion .Aurthur starts to experience floating in air ,losing gravity and the hotel floor goes down ,askew and causes snow avalanche on 3rd level.because the gravity is gone and he says how can he provide a kick without gravity ,then he is forced to change the plan ,removes the charges fixed on the ceiling, he ties ,straps the body of crew on top of each other ,and pulling them into the elevator.and the fighting scene in the absence of gravity will make your jaws drop.Fischer 's death means the failure of mission.as mentioned earlier,when you die in dream with sedative in your blood ,you may not wake up, instead you lost in the limbo .
the kick on 3rd level which is the explosion of the snow fort is an addition to the plan as mal has shot fischer,they decide to go deep into 4Th level to look for him and bring him back,and it is not decided until cobb and ariadne go down to the limbo that eams set up the charges around the place.before they go,eams says something ,he says if the kick doesnt work he's gone anyway,means that he's not sure weather the kick will pull them out from limbo ,but decides to try.and in limbo,they see the warning sign ,the thunderstorm which happens when the resuscitation occurs-and just that after ariadne pushed fisher off the building ,he's back to 3rd level.and when the explosion occurs,the buildings in limbo collapse and crumble down ,but they are not pulled out ,so ariadne improvises it by jumping out from the window ,i'm not sure if this is because she's in limbo ,and you need extra ,addictive effect(the falling sensation and the explosion),to wake you up, the deeper the state you are in.here a biggest secret revealed ,Mal,Cobb's deceased wife ,was once be with him in this limbo ,as they got too deep into their dream and forgot about the reality ,they built their own world and spent like 50 years together there,and gradually,Mal lost track of time ,and convinced that the world she's in was actually reality when it's not,she even locked her own totem-the top away in a safe ,unable to face the truth,no longer felt like able to be a part of the real world,and when Cobb found out the top in the safe of Mal's subconscious ,horrified and feared by the fact that his wife wanted to stay here forever,he did an inception on her, planted an idea in her mind ,that the world she's in wasn't real ,and the children were waiting for her,and death was the only escape.he placed the constantly spinning totem ,in the safe -which was behind the doll's house,and the idea was simple , reminded her that she's in a dream world,it's not that she always saw the spinning top,but it's always there spinning in her subconscious ,making her feel like as if she's still trapped in a dream .that's why she killed herself by jumping from the building when they finally got back to the real world.the idea planted ,highly contagious and deadly like viral infection,spread beyond control,infested and corrupted her own mind ,made her think that she's still in the limbo ,or dream within a dream ,and was yet to see her children ,and death was the only way to escape.''You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You can't be sure where it will take you. But it doesn't matter - because we'll be together.'' the riddle Cobb told her when they laid themselves down on the train track.feelings of poignancy and unspeakable hollowness rising within me.but i didn't feel sad over their death ,basically because i know that it's not real ,they didn't just die ,but came back to the real world ,but the thought and sense of foreboding of something metallic and heavy running over your body while you laid on the icy cold track ,staring into each other eyes ,hands holding, fingers intertwined ,feared to be forced apart,every inch of your skin tingled with anticipation ,and of a sick thrill of death ,was death waiting ,was death only breath away from you now?you cant be sure ,yet you are waiting ,drown in his light blue eyes ,feeling languid and weak yet excited that you are going home,and finally it's over.and you wake up feeling emotional overload ,time has just passed several hours in reality ,yet you felt like as if you've lived for a decade ,the hysteria,nervous breakdown ensues,and the fear and burden when all the questions are answered.
so why didn't they resuscitated saito in the same way as they saved Fischer with the defibrillator?Saito is shot on the first level of the dream, but doesn't die until the third. If they resuscitated him on the third level, it would only bring him back to the second where he was still dying, and if he survived that, then it would only bring him back to the first where he was dying the fastest anyway.(from some calculation i did, the extent of time moves may seem to slow or rather lengthen as you go deeper,means if he's destined to die in 5 mins in level 1 ,then it'd take him an hour or so to die in the next level ,the the effect doubles ,so on.) Meanwhile, since Fischer was shot on the third level and sent to Limbo, his "bodies" on the other two levels were totally fine. The kick from the defibrillator timed correctly with the falling sensation he experienced after Ariadne pushed him off the building was enough to bring him back to normal level 3 so he could complete the mission.and does the top spinning in the end stop at last ?i was sure i saw it start to wobble a bit towards the end ,but then the screen turned black ,i think it's the reality ,as his children finally turned to look at him before running into his arms ,they looked so sweet.i hope he was truly back to his own home ,reunited with his children ,but the director provided an ambigious ending which i like very much ,made me ponder for some times .
on third level ,Mal bubbles up again ,and she shoots Fischer ,Cobb,caught up in his own guilt and unmasked grief ,unable to pull the trigger in time to stop Mal.and in the first place ,a kick is designed to bring people from one level below to the level in which the kick is initiated.before that,they have taken sedative,specifically told that it will not disrupt the equilibrium of the ears,and kicks from multiple layers are enough to bring them back.but the kicks need to be timed perfectly so that each will work in order,in a flawless sequence,one after the other,hence music acts as a cue to the people in the level below so as to synchronise each kick.this is shown when yusuf is forced to start the countdown earlier,and he put the headset over Aurthur's ears to warn him with the music that the kick is coming to wake them up from second level but they need to be awake at that time for the kick on first level to work and bring them back to first level.So Arthur blew up the elevator on second level to wake them up from the snow fortress dream so they could then be woken up by the car hitting the water on first level.and that's why Cobb said that they'd missed the first kick when the van fell off the bridge,because they are on 3rd level ,and their bodies on 2ND level havent been awakened from this snow fort dream.starting the kick on the first level before the people on second level have been woken up will not bring them back.then they could only wait for the 2ND kick ,which was when the van plunged into water(worked exactly like scene when Cobb's body had been dunked into a bathtub full of water ,he felt water exploded and rushed in from everywhere ,flooded over him and woke him up from his dream)i simply assumed that it's the way those kicks work ,since the scenes on 2nd and third levels were interspliced with the van going down to the water in the first level,and it follows this sequence-explosion in the snow fort,the propelling of elevator against gravity and then the moment the van hit the water )and the physics of each level gets destabilised by what's happening above ,which is shown when the van gets chased off the bridge by the pursuers and they get into a state of free falling in a slow motion .Aurthur starts to experience floating in air ,losing gravity and the hotel floor goes down ,askew and causes snow avalanche on 3rd level.because the gravity is gone and he says how can he provide a kick without gravity ,then he is forced to change the plan ,removes the charges fixed on the ceiling, he ties ,straps the body of crew on top of each other ,and pulling them into the elevator.and the fighting scene in the absence of gravity will make your jaws drop.Fischer 's death means the failure of mission.as mentioned earlier,when you die in dream with sedative in your blood ,you may not wake up, instead you lost in the limbo .
the kick on 3rd level which is the explosion of the snow fort is an addition to the plan as mal has shot fischer,they decide to go deep into 4Th level to look for him and bring him back,and it is not decided until cobb and ariadne go down to the limbo that eams set up the charges around the place.before they go,eams says something ,he says if the kick doesnt work he's gone anyway,means that he's not sure weather the kick will pull them out from limbo ,but decides to try.and in limbo,they see the warning sign ,the thunderstorm which happens when the resuscitation occurs-and just that after ariadne pushed fisher off the building ,he's back to 3rd level.and when the explosion occurs,the buildings in limbo collapse and crumble down ,but they are not pulled out ,so ariadne improvises it by jumping out from the window ,i'm not sure if this is because she's in limbo ,and you need extra ,addictive effect(the falling sensation and the explosion),to wake you up, the deeper the state you are in.here a biggest secret revealed ,Mal,Cobb's deceased wife ,was once be with him in this limbo ,as they got too deep into their dream and forgot about the reality ,they built their own world and spent like 50 years together there,and gradually,Mal lost track of time ,and convinced that the world she's in was actually reality when it's not,she even locked her own totem-the top away in a safe ,unable to face the truth,no longer felt like able to be a part of the real world,and when Cobb found out the top in the safe of Mal's subconscious ,horrified and feared by the fact that his wife wanted to stay here forever,he did an inception on her, planted an idea in her mind ,that the world she's in wasn't real ,and the children were waiting for her,and death was the only escape.he placed the constantly spinning totem ,in the safe -which was behind the doll's house,and the idea was simple , reminded her that she's in a dream world,it's not that she always saw the spinning top,but it's always there spinning in her subconscious ,making her feel like as if she's still trapped in a dream .that's why she killed herself by jumping from the building when they finally got back to the real world.the idea planted ,highly contagious and deadly like viral infection,spread beyond control,infested and corrupted her own mind ,made her think that she's still in the limbo ,or dream within a dream ,and was yet to see her children ,and death was the only way to escape.''You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You can't be sure where it will take you. But it doesn't matter - because we'll be together.'' the riddle Cobb told her when they laid themselves down on the train track.feelings of poignancy and unspeakable hollowness rising within me.but i didn't feel sad over their death ,basically because i know that it's not real ,they didn't just die ,but came back to the real world ,but the thought and sense of foreboding of something metallic and heavy running over your body while you laid on the icy cold track ,staring into each other eyes ,hands holding, fingers intertwined ,feared to be forced apart,every inch of your skin tingled with anticipation ,and of a sick thrill of death ,was death waiting ,was death only breath away from you now?you cant be sure ,yet you are waiting ,drown in his light blue eyes ,feeling languid and weak yet excited that you are going home,and finally it's over.and you wake up feeling emotional overload ,time has just passed several hours in reality ,yet you felt like as if you've lived for a decade ,the hysteria,nervous breakdown ensues,and the fear and burden when all the questions are answered.
so why didn't they resuscitated saito in the same way as they saved Fischer with the defibrillator?Saito is shot on the first level of the dream, but doesn't die until the third. If they resuscitated him on the third level, it would only bring him back to the second where he was still dying, and if he survived that, then it would only bring him back to the first where he was dying the fastest anyway.(from some calculation i did, the extent of time moves may seem to slow or rather lengthen as you go deeper,means if he's destined to die in 5 mins in level 1 ,then it'd take him an hour or so to die in the next level ,the the effect doubles ,so on.) Meanwhile, since Fischer was shot on the third level and sent to Limbo, his "bodies" on the other two levels were totally fine. The kick from the defibrillator timed correctly with the falling sensation he experienced after Ariadne pushed him off the building was enough to bring him back to normal level 3 so he could complete the mission.and does the top spinning in the end stop at last ?i was sure i saw it start to wobble a bit towards the end ,but then the screen turned black ,i think it's the reality ,as his children finally turned to look at him before running into his arms ,they looked so sweet.i hope he was truly back to his own home ,reunited with his children ,but the director provided an ambigious ending which i like very much ,made me ponder for some times .
inception(warning: only for those who have seen the movie)
this movie is a must-watch,it's just another new masterpiece of Christoper Nolan,it's consistently clever ,well-acted,suspenseful,intricately-layered and awe-inspiring.I've never encountered any movie movie since shutter island that could ever arise such an emotional turmoil within me ,i felt as if lost in the blankness of depths,in the complexity-structured, maze-like dreams,created to trap and tell you that everything you saw was possible ,every idea was growing ,like a seed ,exactly what the movie name suggests-inception,this movie is going to defy every conventional view of how things should play out for you ,it practically kept me on edge throughout the movie ,nails bit into palms,face taut with concentration to listen to every word ,every sentence and place,tried to remember any resemblance in architecture ,any repeated images(possibly could be significant in any parts of the movie) or simply just projection of subconscious ,this director is practical,more than just theoretically based ,every rule and sentence will be repeated and highlighted by certain characters in certain parts,or they simply just accompanied by an action to prove the theory,guiding you to understand .but it do gets mistaken as profundity as everything moves in such a break-neck pace ,and there were vertiginous sequences of parallel action ,each happens in different dimensions and places ,but at the same time ,though we are always told that the extent of period in each level may differ ,the faster time ticks as you go deeper down into the dream .so,it's not hard to understand ,all you have to do is just paying attention,and the small details of each scene do play huge importance in helping you understand in the end.
it's about a skillful ,highly-trained mind extractor called Cobb,he could sneak into people subconscious ,steal the thoughts from the sleeping subject ,when you are asleep ,your defense system is at the lowest and weakest point ,hence this makes infiltration possible ,but some people have been trained to protect his mind even when they sleep ,this can make the job difficult ,as it is needed to confront with the armed force ,tracking down and destroys the dreamer ,sabotages and threatens to fail the whole mission.in this movie,they use a device to connect themselves to a person and make him fall into a dream they created prior to that ,in which they construct places,streets,and small details served to confuse the subject ,he will not be aware that he's dreaming ,and his subconscious will lead them into something they want.when you sleep ,your subconscious project images ,pieces of memories to your dreams ,hence it's likely that you are able to explore while discover your true-self simultaneously.an architect creates dreams ,which are carefully planned ,elaborately designed,to baffle the subject ,mislead him to trust that it's a reality that he's in ,while trying to unravel the secrets trapped beneath. Ariadne plays as an architect in this movie,and she practically folds the entire city over itself ,the sky is dominated by another city-mirrored exactly to what's down there,streets ended up in in another which has been bent and distorted upward,and you could just lay your feet on it ,and walk up by clinging to it,losing gravity ,from that point you may feel that you are standing so still on the ground,look up to people walking upside down,but in fact ,from people look from different angles ,it looks as if you are the one who is being weird(weird is just the word),standing with your head directed downward ,it can be muddling.The Dreamer: The person whose dream you're actually in. When creating a dream within a dream, each level must have a different dreamer. In the final sequence, Yusuf dreams the first level, Arthur dreams the second one, and Eames dreams the third level with the snow fort. Eames is the Forger. This name has two meanings. In the real world he can forge identities using his contacts and his ability to fake documents. In the dream world, he can alter his appearance and take on the personality of someone else he's studied, probably using much the same methods used to construct buildings.and what's a totem ? how does it work ?a totem is actually an object created by the dreamer ,in order for her or his mind to be clear of the situation,able to discern the difference between reality and dream,not to lost in the realm of dream ,sometimes when you go deeper ,you become increasingly convinced that the place you are in is actually reality,does reality ever mattered ?it becomes all confusing and bewildering to have to decide weather to go back or stay behind,and you will find stuck in the middle of both -a limbo-a shared and unlimited space, A place where dreamers may end up if they go too deeply. It’s a place where time runs quickly and people seem to forget reality. the only way to get out of it is to kill yourself -as what Cobb and his wife did,later when they are back to the real world, he's troubled by questions like what if Mal is right ,and he's still in a dream which he thinks as reality,and they should kill themselves again?what if Mal is wrong ? then he''ll die and never will be able to see his children faces anyone,it's his children that make him clung on to the wobbling fact inside ,the fact that the world he's in is a reality ,he has to convince himself ,although another part of him is feeling so confused and lost.so i think his children faces is actually his totem , the one that he avoided when he's in the dreams(they are only projection of his subconscious, but like his wife ,they can be replicated to make him feeling trapped and guilty ,and he's scared that if they turned to look at him ,he might actually stay in a place he's not supposed to ),Mal's totem is a top ,which she tells that in a dream ,it will keep on spinning infinitely.
there are certain rules to follow,must never create dreams with memories ,can never change too much things when you are inside a person's mind,as it will certainly arise suspicion and incredulity,the person subconscious will start to fight back ,seek out the person who caused the changes ,and drive him out ,to restore the equilibrium of the dream .it functions similar to the white blood cells.you feel real pains when you are injured .when you die in dream,you simply just wake up from it.but if you are on sedatives like what Cobb and his team were ,then you may not be able to wake up,due to the double effect of the drug ,and forever will be lost in the limbo.
it's about a skillful ,highly-trained mind extractor called Cobb,he could sneak into people subconscious ,steal the thoughts from the sleeping subject ,when you are asleep ,your defense system is at the lowest and weakest point ,hence this makes infiltration possible ,but some people have been trained to protect his mind even when they sleep ,this can make the job difficult ,as it is needed to confront with the armed force ,tracking down and destroys the dreamer ,sabotages and threatens to fail the whole mission.in this movie,they use a device to connect themselves to a person and make him fall into a dream they created prior to that ,in which they construct places,streets,and small details served to confuse the subject ,he will not be aware that he's dreaming ,and his subconscious will lead them into something they want.when you sleep ,your subconscious project images ,pieces of memories to your dreams ,hence it's likely that you are able to explore while discover your true-self simultaneously.an architect creates dreams ,which are carefully planned ,elaborately designed,to baffle the subject ,mislead him to trust that it's a reality that he's in ,while trying to unravel the secrets trapped beneath. Ariadne plays as an architect in this movie,and she practically folds the entire city over itself ,the sky is dominated by another city-mirrored exactly to what's down there,streets ended up in in another which has been bent and distorted upward,and you could just lay your feet on it ,and walk up by clinging to it,losing gravity ,from that point you may feel that you are standing so still on the ground,look up to people walking upside down,but in fact ,from people look from different angles ,it looks as if you are the one who is being weird(weird is just the word),standing with your head directed downward ,it can be muddling.The Dreamer: The person whose dream you're actually in. When creating a dream within a dream, each level must have a different dreamer. In the final sequence, Yusuf dreams the first level, Arthur dreams the second one, and Eames dreams the third level with the snow fort. Eames is the Forger. This name has two meanings. In the real world he can forge identities using his contacts and his ability to fake documents. In the dream world, he can alter his appearance and take on the personality of someone else he's studied, probably using much the same methods used to construct buildings.and what's a totem ? how does it work ?a totem is actually an object created by the dreamer ,in order for her or his mind to be clear of the situation,able to discern the difference between reality and dream,not to lost in the realm of dream ,sometimes when you go deeper ,you become increasingly convinced that the place you are in is actually reality,does reality ever mattered ?it becomes all confusing and bewildering to have to decide weather to go back or stay behind,and you will find stuck in the middle of both -a limbo-a shared and unlimited space, A place where dreamers may end up if they go too deeply. It’s a place where time runs quickly and people seem to forget reality. the only way to get out of it is to kill yourself -as what Cobb and his wife did,later when they are back to the real world, he's troubled by questions like what if Mal is right ,and he's still in a dream which he thinks as reality,and they should kill themselves again?what if Mal is wrong ? then he''ll die and never will be able to see his children faces anyone,it's his children that make him clung on to the wobbling fact inside ,the fact that the world he's in is a reality ,he has to convince himself ,although another part of him is feeling so confused and lost.so i think his children faces is actually his totem , the one that he avoided when he's in the dreams(they are only projection of his subconscious, but like his wife ,they can be replicated to make him feeling trapped and guilty ,and he's scared that if they turned to look at him ,he might actually stay in a place he's not supposed to ),Mal's totem is a top ,which she tells that in a dream ,it will keep on spinning infinitely.
there are certain rules to follow,must never create dreams with memories ,can never change too much things when you are inside a person's mind,as it will certainly arise suspicion and incredulity,the person subconscious will start to fight back ,seek out the person who caused the changes ,and drive him out ,to restore the equilibrium of the dream .it functions similar to the white blood cells.you feel real pains when you are injured .when you die in dream,you simply just wake up from it.but if you are on sedatives like what Cobb and his team were ,then you may not be able to wake up,due to the double effect of the drug ,and forever will be lost in the limbo.
the love rumour
obviously,everyone can see there's definitely something going on between them,the great chemistry between these two ,the little sparks that do catch my eyes whenever i watch the interviews of theirs ,the easiness and comfort when they talk to each other .and oh gosh -their faces are so close to each other-swt,i cant believe that Damon's eyes keep drifting to Elena lips when she talks ,his gaze seems to be fixed on her in a way that makes people wonder are they more than just being ''ordinary '' friends.Elena looks at Damon with such affinity ,excitement as if they need some private moments.swt,i feel so sorry for Stefan that Elena isn't really into him.Stefan did seem to avoid her eyes whenever they talked,which i cant understand why.Damon's blue eyes has this cold mischief in them(as if he knows more than you,and he knows too well when he's going to break your heart-the bad boy looks) ,the devilish smile ,his voice and the boldness and self-confidence are in full display -damn ,he definitely knows that he's good looking and trying to show it off whenever possible.and he likes to tease her most of the times ,and she seems like she's going to melt into a puddle of ice-cream,it's way too adorable she giggles at his teasing , held each other's gaze ,the silence that follows but soon any of them will break it with casual jokes.and i think they like physical contact too,from the last few interviews i watched,Damon caressed her arm so lightly that made many girls screamed in envy =.='' ,held her hand or put an arm around her,kissed her cheek ,and Stefan seemed plainly disconcerted,and shifted away from them .they definitely looked more like a couple.
i couldn't ever have imagined that Elena said that her favourite moment was when she got to make out with Damon ! ''did i bite you in that one ?'' ''no,we got to make out '' ''oh,that's true,with blood '' '' that was cool'' '' i killed two people and made out with him ,well,you know,another day at works ..'' and they both laughed.seriously ,too obsessively flirting with each other.and did i catch Ian blushing when he said that don't build it up,what if it sucks ?lol
