Tenet

Nolan marathon #11 Nolan return to Inception-levels of headfuckery after the relatively straightforward Dunkirk. Where Inception follows a professional thief who jumps into the subconscious of his targets, setting up a heady story which takes place in competing dream worlds, Tenet centres on what one character calls a temporal Cold War. People from the future appear to be gearing up to attack the present, who possesses the technology to jump back and forth in time. what follows is in an incredibly intricate game of one-upmanship which involves travelling back and forward in time sometimes by minutes, sometimes by weeks. Tenet is definitely a film that rewards repeat viewings. It’s not so much the concept of “inverted” objects that’s confounding, more that several dazzling action sequences where events happen in reverse are tricky to follow. Though it’s sometimes hamstrung by clumsy dialogue (a necessary evil given how much Nolan needs to explain) Tenet is rarely less than thrilling to watch. It’s a challenging, ambitious and genuinely original film packed with compelling performances, Pattinson and Debicki are especially excellent, which confirms Nolan as the master of the cerebral blockbuster. Vibed with this one much, much more on this second viewing.