I’m not enough of a film buff to have seen all of the classics, but the reference to Godard’s Le Mépris and Fritz Lang playing himself sounds interesting.
All of this talk about the Odyssey has made me want to finally read it, so it may have done some good.
This review confirms my impression that the movie would be a disappointment, so I will forgo seeing it.
I am delighted to find that I am not the only one who thinks Christopher Nolan is an overblown chocolate bunny of a director. I think Denis Villneuve could probably have taken this on, but other than that I don't think anybody else would give it a try. Odysseus has long been in American fascination because he's such a liar and schemer, but in Nolan's hands he's... well, Matt Damon. The only Nolan film that I even halfway like is Dunkirk.
The thing that I used to judge directors is how many times I can watch the movie and still find fresh things that I like. Nolan doesn't even bear one rewatch for most of his films. Inception is moronic. Tenet is essentially David Foster Wallace footnotes. The Prestige is a hammy vaudeville send up of what Ricky Jay did so elegantly.
And the Odyssey is pretty much his version of David Lynch's version of Dune.
I had never thought about Nolan’s style being “relentless montage” ha.
I totally agree that Nolan is revisiting ideas / themes from Oppenheimer, he seems to be on a penance or guilt kick. I also agree that Homer, nor any Ancient Greek or Roman author, would have recognized the kind of grief that Nolan is writing into Odysseus.
When you said “I recently had a conversation with a friend who considered the film a possibly unconscious allegory of the advent of the Christian idea of sin” I think this is possibly accurate. Maybe Nolan is mulling over thoughts about divine guilt and retribution?
I’m not enough of a film buff to have seen all of the classics, but the reference to Godard’s Le Mépris and Fritz Lang playing himself sounds interesting.
All of this talk about the Odyssey has made me want to finally read it, so it may have done some good.
This review confirms my impression that the movie would be a disappointment, so I will forgo seeing it.
I am delighted to find that I am not the only one who thinks Christopher Nolan is an overblown chocolate bunny of a director. I think Denis Villneuve could probably have taken this on, but other than that I don't think anybody else would give it a try. Odysseus has long been in American fascination because he's such a liar and schemer, but in Nolan's hands he's... well, Matt Damon. The only Nolan film that I even halfway like is Dunkirk.
The thing that I used to judge directors is how many times I can watch the movie and still find fresh things that I like. Nolan doesn't even bear one rewatch for most of his films. Inception is moronic. Tenet is essentially David Foster Wallace footnotes. The Prestige is a hammy vaudeville send up of what Ricky Jay did so elegantly.
And the Odyssey is pretty much his version of David Lynch's version of Dune.
I had never thought about Nolan’s style being “relentless montage” ha.
I totally agree that Nolan is revisiting ideas / themes from Oppenheimer, he seems to be on a penance or guilt kick. I also agree that Homer, nor any Ancient Greek or Roman author, would have recognized the kind of grief that Nolan is writing into Odysseus.
When you said “I recently had a conversation with a friend who considered the film a possibly unconscious allegory of the advent of the Christian idea of sin” I think this is possibly accurate. Maybe Nolan is mulling over thoughts about divine guilt and retribution?