Directed by: Vasilis Katsoupis
Written by: Vasilis Katsoupis and Ben Hopkins
Starring: Willem Dafoe
Runtime: 105 minutes
Dafoe brings out a courageous performance in ‘Inside’, a troubling, solitary story
Breaking and entering.
It’s a crime, and Nemo (Willem Dafoe) commits this moral and legal sin during the opening minutes of “Inside”.
The 60-something Nemo – wearing a blue-collar jumpsuit (literally blue), one that Michael Myers from the “Halloween” series might don - enters a massive, posh New York City penthouse. He’s assisted by an unseen partner who communicates over a portable CB as the crooks attempt to heist a pricey artwork collection.
No one is home! Then again, these experienced thieves already knew this crucial fact, and Nemo has free rein to run through the spacious flat and start a one-man dodgeball match, if he wishes. Still, time is of the essence.
Get in and get out with the art pieces that will land a fortune for Nemo and company.
However, this felonious act is no childhood game, and – without warning – Nemo’s immediate circumstance becomes a nightmare that John Carpenter may have dreamt up but sans butcher knives and a creepy mask.
Nemo sets off an alarm, and now he’s trapped.
Locked inside.
Vasilis Katsoupis’ claustrophobic thriller is set in the said locale for nearly the entire 105-minute runtime, and Dafoe is primarily (but not entirely) the only actor who appears on-screen.
Admittedly, “Inside” is a gimmick film, and moviegoers will either buy into the experience or not.
It’s a man-versus-his-surroundings story.
This critic hosted a March 8th Phoenix Film Society “Inside” screening, and my co-host correctly compared the movie’s premise to the events in “Cast Away” (2000) with Tom Hanks and “All is Lost” (2013) with Robert Redford. Like Hanks (during the island scenes, anyway) and Redford, the camera solely points at the lead as Nemo is forced to face his daunting, life-threatening setting and use ingenuity to discover a reprieve: freedom!
Chuck Nolan (Hanks) and an unnamed boat captain (Redford) dealt with confounding natural elements. Here, Nemo copes with the (in)conveniences of an urban venue filled with technological advances that prove to be just as formidable as Mother Nature’s creations.
Still, the principles are the same.
Katsoupis conjures up a nerve-racking, tangled, hi-tech web and introduces several sticky obstacles for Nemo, which do not appear all at once. This review will not march through the laundry list of impediments, but know that they are stressful, like an incessant car alarm.
The narrative doesn’t waste time because we’re compelled to ask three questions during the opening 20 minutes (or so).
What pitfalls will Nemo discover?
How will he creatively deal with them?
What will be his fate?
This initial construct presents itself, and then it’s up to Dafoe, Katsoupis, his co-writer Ben Hopkins, cinematographer Steve Annis, composer Frederik Van de Moortel, and the rest of the creative team to keep us engrossed.
It’s not an effortless task, but the filmmakers offer an abundance of sights and sounds, including the concrete and steel palace that ironically feels like an elaborate art project on its own. Other times, Nemo meets ordinary fixtures, like a refrigerator but one that features a curious warning system when the door remains open too long.
There are plenty of gadgets and surprises, but no matter how many widgets and thingamabobs that the filmmakers throw at the screen, this movie – ultimately - lives or dies with Willem’s performance.
Of course, Dafoe is absorbing in the role and delivers an awfully physical thespian-concert. He’s all by his lonesome but musters up courageous eye-openers by Nemo playing off his environment and internalizing the trauma. Dafoe carries a svelte frame, but - throughout the film - Nemo copes with mental and tactile challenges that stress the mind and body. His initially lean appearance morphs into an increasingly gaunt and fragile state, and with an extended period of solitude, ordinary cognition begins to mutate into cerebral disarray.
Does anyone recall the shelter-in-place days of COVID?
This picture did not initially remind me of those taxing times, but the pandemic parallels seem apparent after the fact. Actually, this maddening, solitary affair offers some shades of Michael Haneke’s twisted and stormy “The Seventh Continent” (1989), an arthouse compliment but not a ringing endorsement for a first-date trip to the movies.
“Inside” isn’t a sweet and soothing date-night movie, but missing Dafoe’s valiant performance might be a crime.
Jeff’s ranking
2.5/4 stars
