ODISSEA (THE ODYSSEY)
di Christopher Nolan, con Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Jon Bernthal, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Mia Goth
E' giunto il tempo, dopo l'OPPENHEIMER (2023) che ci ha fulminato con l'opera finora più compiuta del regista inglese Christopher Nolan, l'imprevisto, travolgente successo di spettatori che sta raccogliendo ODISSEA. Chiediamo venia per i nostri ultimi dubbi. Quelli di non sfuggire, eventualmente fino all'arbitrio ma anche solo allo smarrimento, al fascino di quella che una volta era considerata la logica narrativa. Dopo la visione dei dilaganti 180 minuti di ODISSEA è tempo di constatare quanto, dagli anni duemila del suo primo MEMENTO, quindi nel corso di una una progressione affascinante composta da INCEPTION (2010), quindi INTERSTELLAR (2014), DUNKIRK (2017) e magari anche i BATMAN quanto Christopher Nolan abbia fatto del Tempo.
Il proprio giocattolo prediletto, la propria ossessione. La progressione delle sue pellicole si é fatta sempre più esaltante, pur gravata da certe delizie, ma elenose, nelli'invenzione..
Protagonista nella sparizione della memoria immediata, Nolan squarcerà i ricordi più recenti alla ricerca di quelli lontani. Ricorrendo al Polaroid, piuttosto che ai tatuaggi corporali.
Soggetti splendidi, poi qualcosa finiva per irritare, anche perché si voleva capirci qualcosa.
Ancora la memoria in INSOMNIA, quando in Alaska i confini incerti fra l'acqua e la terra sottolineavano quelli altrettanto opinabili fra verità ed ipocrisia in un Al Pacino immenso.
E allora di seguito i BATMAN dal 2008, per entrare con le vertigini del suo cinema fra tante identità contraddittorie. Spettacolari giostre magmatiche all'interno di una grandiloquenza spaziale e temporale degli script, quasi una bulimia espressiva. Ma che avrà il merito di non ovviare all'attenzione per l'attualità sociopolitica e, al tempo stesso, le angosce dell'intimo.
Come dalle pagine di Positif, la rivista cinematografica considerata prima in Europa, ecco le considerazioni : "Adattando Omero, Christopher Nolan è riuscito a riunire in un solo suo film tutto quanto nutriva il proprio cinema: la manipolazione, le impasses della violenza umana, l'esplosione del Tempo e il difficile ritorno dell'Eroe che non aspira altro che rientrare a casa.. Una volta ancora Christopher Nolan ha ridotto al massimo gli effetti numerici, preferendo filmare il "vero" sul proprio set: Il clamoroso successo popolare del film lascia sperare che si ritroverà in futuro la via per le super produzioni del genere. Affidate a dei veri autori. Che abbiano come scopo di filmare il corpo di ciò che filmano.
The time has come – following OPPENHEIMER (2023), which blew us away as British director Christopher Nolan’s most accomplished work to date – for the unexpected, overwhelming box-office success that THE ODYSSEY is currently enjoying. We apologise for our lingering doubts – those that prevent us from escaping, perhaps to the point of arbitrariness or even simply bewilderment, the allure of what was once considered narrative logic. Having watched the sprawling 180 minutes of THE ODYSSEY, it is time to recognise just how much, since the 2000s and his first film MEMENTO – and throughout a fascinating progression comprising INCEPTION (2010), then INTERSTELLAR (2014), DUNKIRK (2017) and perhaps even the BATMAN films – Christopher Nolan has made of Time. His favourite toy, his obsession. The progression of his films has become increasingly exhilarating, albeit weighed down by certain delights that are, however, tedious in their invention. With the disappearance of immediate memory at the centre, Nolan tears through the most recent memories in search of the distant ones. Resorting to Polaroids rather than body tattoos. Splendid subjects, yet something always ended up being irritating, partly because one wanted to make sense of it all. Memory features again in INSOMNIA, when in Alaska the blurred boundaries between water and land underscored the equally debatable ones between truth and hypocrisy, in a magnificent performance by Al Pacino. So here are the BATMAN films from 2008 onwards, to immerse ourselves in the dizzying world of his cinema amidst so many contradictory identities. Spectacular, magmatic rollercoasters set against the backdrop of scripts that are grandiose in both space and time, verging on expressive excess. Yet they have the merit of not neglecting attention to current socio-political issues whilst, at the same time, exploring the anxieties of the inner self. As reported in Positif, Europe’s leading film magazine, here are the observations: “By adapting Homer, Christopher Nolan has managed to bring together in a single film everything that has fuelled his cinema: manipulation, the impasses of human violence, the explosion of Time, and the difficult return of the Hero who aspires to nothing more than going home… Once again, Christopher Nolan has kept special effects to a minimum, preferring to capture the ‘real’ on set: the film’s resounding popular success gives hope that, in future, the path will be found back to blockbusters of this kind – entrusted to true filmmakers. Filmmakers whose aim is to capture the essence of what they are filming.”
The time has come – following OPPENHEIMER (2023), which blew us away as British director Christopher Nolan’s most accomplished work to date – for the unexpected, overwhelming box-office success that THE ODYSSEY is currently enjoying. We apologise for our lingering doubts – those that prevent us from escaping, perhaps to the point of arbitrariness or even simply bewilderment, the allure of what was once considered narrative logic. Having watched the sprawling 180 minutes of THE ODYSSEY, it is time to recognise just how much, since the 2000s and his first film MEMENTO – and throughout a fascinating progression comprising INCEPTION (2010), then INTERSTELLAR (2014), DUNKIRK (2017) and perhaps even the BATMAN films – Christopher Nolan has made of Time. His favourite toy, his obsession. The progression of his films has become increasingly exhilarating, albeit weighed down by certain delights that are, however, tedious in their invention. With the disappearance of immediate memory at the centre, Nolan tears through the most recent memories in search of the distant ones. Resorting to Polaroids rather than body tattoos. Splendid subjects, yet something always ended up being irritating, partly because one wanted to make sense of it all. Memory features again in INSOMNIA, when in Alaska the blurred boundaries between water and land underscored the equally debatable ones between truth and hypocrisy, in a magnificent performance by Al Pacino. So here are the BATMAN films from 2008 onwards, to immerse ourselves in the dizzying world of his cinema amidst so many contradictory identities. Spectacular, magmatic rollercoasters set against the backdrop of scripts that are grandiose in both space and time, verging on expressive excess. Yet they have the merit of not neglecting attention to current socio-political issues whilst, at the same time, exploring the anxieties of the inner self. As reported in Positif, Europe’s leading film magazine, here are the observations: “By adapting Homer, Christopher Nolan has managed to bring together in a single film everything that has fuelled his cinema: manipulation, the impasses of human violence, the explosion of Time, and the difficult return of the Hero who aspires to nothing more than going home… Once again, Christopher Nolan has kept special effects to a minimum, preferring to capture the ‘real’ on set: the film’s resounding popular success gives hope that, in future, the path will be found back to blockbusters of this kind – entrusted to true filmmakers. Filmmakers whose aim is to capture the essence of what they are filming.”
