Inside

yall had no right to waste my time like that with thus movie and you guys who actually enjoyed it plssss tell how did you it

اچھی فلم!

اچھی فلم!

اچھی فلم!

The negative reviews on here surprise me not one bit. It is as though they have never watched any of Willem's previous output. This ain't no Hollywood heist movie. Don't go expecting Bruce Willis to appear. No, this is a very European-style reflection of a man, his life, the human condition, and that. Last "normal" Dafoe film I recall watching was The Florida Project. A great film, and hardly mainstream. Basically, if I see he is in anything, I know that it is well worth a watch. File this one under that category. Despite it's European leanings, plainly somebody has poured a decent amount of cash into this one. I knew from the start that I'd enjoy it, and so I did.

source: Inside

source: Inside

In the pandemic-era film "Inside", Willem Dafoe's impressive range and versatility are on full display as he plays the character of Nemo, an art thief trapped in a luxurious Manhattan penthouse after the security system malfunctions. The film alternates between being a survival thriller and a twisted exercise of the mind, exploring themes of isolation, anxiety, and the need for human connection. While the movie touches on these deeper themes, it also delves into the idea of art and its inseparable bond to the human will. Nemo's inherent urge to create and express is showcased as he sketches on shreds of paper or creates his own mural while trapped in the penthouse. The freedom of the New York City skyline, just beyond the panes of unbreakable glass, is a cruel tease, making art a soothing balm in his confined world. Dafoe's physical and psychological transformation is both harrowing and fascinating to watch. Though Nemo's character may be a tad too opaque, the audience is submerged into his experience, feeling the palpable sense of confinement and being cut off from the outside world. At its core, "Inside" poses thoughtful questions surrounding the purpose of art, keeping its answers vague enough for the audience to wrestle with. And while there are brief moments of cheerfulness, such as when the "Macarena" song by Los Del Río plays while the refrigerator door is left open for 20 seconds, the overall feeling of the movie is dark and dour. Overall, "Inside" is a pandemic-era film that explores the deeper themes of isolation, anxiety, and the need for human connection through the lens of art and survival. Dafoe's impressive range and talent at display together with the exploration of the human will to create and express make it a must-watch. There is no creation without destruction!

A high-end art thief becomes trapped inside a luxury, high-tech penthouse in New York's Times Square after his heist doesn't go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive. If you've seen the trailer, Inside is exactly what you think it is: a man trapped in a high-end condo with no avenues of escape. The no-frills, approach to the story hits the ground running with Willem DaFoe's Nemo trapped within the first 10 minutes. These 10 minutes are enough to establish the only necessaries the audience needs: art thief, in a penthouse loaded with expensive artwork, owner out of the country. The other 95 minutes showcase Nemo's ingenuity, his many setbacks, and his decaying thought process as the penthouse deteriorates into a wasteland of filth, a visual representation of his mental state. As a one man show, it's incredible to watch DaFoe's Nemo work through his obstacles and observe how he navigates his failures. As a movie, it's longer than it needs to be, wearing its premise thin before Nemo reaches his final conclusion. Willem DaFoe is a one man force in this movie. While it's been done countless times throughout cinema to varying degrees (Sam Rockwell in Moon, Redford in All Is Lost, Tom Hardy in Locke), the concept of seeing only one person on the screen for the vast majority of the performance is a tall task for an actor and DaFoe's slow descent into madness is expertly conveyed. An actor who's shown multiple times over his career to play characters that are a bit unhinged or or coming apart at the scenes, DaFoe calls upon those past roles to portray a man losing his grip on reality the more desperate he becomes. The internet loves to poke fun at DaFoe's crazy eyes and wild performances, and Inside shows just how good he is with these types of roles. Directed by first time director Vasilis Katsoupis, Inside shows promise in an interesting directing career while also displaying some flaws. A one person story that carries across an feature length runtime is a difficult enough feat for a veteran storyteller; Katsoupis tackles it right out of the gate. Inside is highlighted by its minimalist nature; the only things the viewer has to focus on is Willem DaFoe and the penthouse. To its credit, the production design is well thought out, lending a sense of someone with far too much money having just enough items scattered about to give Nemo a fighting chance at survival. Katsoupis and screenwriter Ben Hopkins dole out enough small victories (and a number of setbacks) to keep audiences baited and rooting for the thief. Overall, Inside is a decent feature debut from Katsoupis. At 105 minutes, the pacing drags at times due to not having enough material to justify its runtime. Had 15-20 minutes been shaved from the story, viewers would've experienced a much more lean, faster moving story of a man desperate to escape. As it stands, though, it's a great vessel to spotlight Willem DaFoe's talents and let him shine. Great production design, an intriguing premise, and an actor talented enough to hold the audience's attention for the majority of the time, the film is good enough weeknight watch after work.

Greetings again from the darkness. We've seen movies about isolation, and we've seen movies with survival stories. However, as best I can remember, this is the first survival story about a guy isolated and trapped in an ultra-luxury Manhattan penthouse apartment. Ben Hopkins wrote the screenplay from an idea of director Vasilis Katsoupis. The best idea was casting the always interesting Willem Dafoe in the lead (and almost the only role), while the worst idea was wedging in a forced statement on the one-percenters. Mr. Dafoe plays Nemo, an art thief working with a never-seen/only heard walkie-talkie partner. After being air-dropped onto the balcony via helicopter, the first few minutes are a thing of beauty in a criminally precise way. Nemo swiftly navigates his way through the apartment gathering paintings by famed expressionist Egon Schiele, whose self-portrait is to be the gem of the haul. The first problem is that painting is nowhere to be found, and the second, much more serious problem occurs when Nemo is ready to leave and the security system malfunctions. This renders Nemo a prisoner, trapped like a rat. This is the type of apartment that features a plunge pool in the living room, two massive aquariums, a steel-reinforced door, and an automatic indoor sprinkler system for the plants. Valuable art is professional displayed throughout. What it doesn't have is an easy escape route. The sleek modernism of luxury slowly transforms into a cold, prison-like fortress. We watch as Nemo's initial panic is slowly overtaken by a sinking feeling of despair. His partner's final walkie-talkie words, "You're on your own", ring out as Nemo takes stock of his dire straits. It's an unusual security lockdown. There is no running water, phone line, or emergency escape, yet the HVAC seems to have a mind of its own by spontaneously shifting from desert-level heat to Arctic winter cold. And for some reason, there seem to be no security cameras inside this high-tech apartment, yet the TV periodically displays closed-circuit video from around the building. Those cameras give Nemo his only link to the outside world, and also help us understand how far he has drifted from reality ... especially in regards to Jasmine, a cleaning lady he spots. He scavenges for food and water in some not-so-appealing ways, including some scraps inside a refrigerator that plays "Macarena" on full blast if the door is left open too long. Although we aren't told exactly how many days this ordeal lasts, we get some idea from a certain pile shown. Any movie that has us engaged enough for us to ask ourselves, "What would I do in this situation?" has something going for it, but it's really Dafoe's performance as a guy losing his grip that keeps us zoned in. Supposedly the owner of this apartment is away in Kazakhstan, and given the weak attempt towards the end to comment on the ultra-rich, we assume this detail is meant to prevent us from having too much sympathy for him. It appears the filmmaker believes we should take a morality lesson from a criminal (one who doesn't carry a cell phone) who, as the narrator, tells us twice, "Cats die. Music fades. Art is for keeps." Opens in theaters on March 17, 2023.