Two hours of Willem Dafoe. Two.hours.of.Willem.Dafoe. Only Willem Dafoe. Nobody else. That’s like 70 hours of Jason Bateman. And you know that if Willem is on the screen for more than ten minutes, there’s gonna be a filth factor. Inside is a psychological drama both for a man caught in a trap and for the audience having to decide if they’re not actually worse off than the fictional anti-hero on screen. Yes, you do have the ability to leave the theater, so I guess technically the guy on screen is worse off, but choosing to leave a movie you paid for isn’t exactly the optimal expression of freedom of choice, now is it?
Inside is a person-in-a-box film, like Buried and Oxygen. I’m a fan of this set-up because I like to see what innovations the hero is going to summon to free themselves. Sometimes they’re clever; sometimes they’re wasting energy. Inside differs only in the key way that Willem Dafoe is our hero. And a little of Dafoe goes a long way. A lot of Dafoe can make you question your sanity; it’s like an entire evening of Walter Matthau or Shirley MacLaine – for the love of God, will you please stop acting at me?
Nemo (Dafoe) is an art thief. Presumably he’s done the b&e thing before because he’s behaving like a professional thief, but he seems to know the owner, which means this might be a personal vendetta of sorts. Nemo can’t find his holy grail and the clock is running; soon he has to give up and escape. His handler relays the escape code. It doesn’t work. Then a siren goes off. The safety measures trigger; this high rise studio is now on lockdown. There is no getting out; there’s nothin’ to do but wait for the cops while the siren wails.
But the cops don’t come. In fact, nobody comes.
Ok, score one for freedom, right? Oh, but that couldn’t be more wrong. Nemo is alone in a nice, yet Spartan, apartment. While he is presumably on the Upper West Side, the owner is in Kazakhstan with no intention of returning. The loft is paid for, but has neither guests nor services. There is no running water. That could be a problem. The thermostat is broken; it raises the temp two degrees every half hour. That could be a problem. The outside is completely closed off and the screens/windows are made of shatterproof glass. That could be a problem. There isn’t much food in the place. That could be a problem. Oh, and every time the fridge is open for more than twenty seconds, it triggers the stereo to start blasting “The Macarena.” This is
already a problem.
Taunting Nemo is the fact that his TV gets no genuine stations, just the public camera feed that the guard in the lobby sees. He can tell when there’s someone on the other side of his door, but his prison is soundproof. Well this is quite a dilemma, isn’t it? It’s a very nice prison, but this is a prison nonetheless. And without running water or a functioning thermostat, life is going to get very ugly very quickly, because nobody, and I mean NOBODY is finding this Nemo.
Inside comes off as a little introverted and a little long … and there really is only so much Willem Dafoe the average human can take. Once you introduce the filth factor, well, good God does there need to be more about this film than presented. I was with Inside for the psychological puzzle and the psychological trauma, but I was not prepared for wall-to-wall Willem. I think you need to judge this film by exactly how much Willem you can handle. (I mean Good God, can you imagine the smell in this place?) If Willem is your bag, Inside is a four star film. If Willem is not exactly your Lord and Savior, knowhwatI’nsayin’?, this might be the longest film you’ve ever seen.
Nemo found himself stuck in a flat
Where the amenities weren’t all that
But worse than this “palace”
Is electronic malice
Probable ending: death by thermostat
Rated R (Willem Dafoe), 105 Minutes
Director: Visalis Katsoupis
Writer: Ben Hopkins
Genre: All Willem, all the tem
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Have you been missing Willem in your life?
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: I dunno how much Willem Dafoe you need in your life, but this is too much
