And I'm embracing it because I want to inhabit this character. Give me the sharp wit of the movies early scenes, which are far more disrespectful: the enigma-free sight of Nemo, for instance, trying to crunch through a door and deploying Paper Hat, a bronze sculpture by Lynn Chadwick, as a crowbar. Instead, the edit (by Lambis Haralambidis) treats them merely as tidbits of information the kind which you might recall and wonder about once theyve been off-screen for lengthy periods rather than as evolving elements of Nemos confining environment. It's one of. Editors picks Its the only artwork that has dialogue and has some movement. Willem Dafoe's upcoming thriller Inside gets its first poster. "There were many, and it was a pure pleasure to work with [Vasilis] on this stuff," Dafoe told Newsweek, looking back on the unscripted moments. The role that this work had in the script was this idea of Willem looking at this painting and imagining the possibility to reach this woman as much as hes eager to reach the outside world. The hero of Inside, a new film directed by Vasilis Katsoupis, is apparently called Nemo, though I never caught the name. "We shot in chronological order. Not really. This gives him something of a personal connection, at least in theory, to the numerous works of art hes been sent to steal, when with help of his cohorts over walkie talkies he breaks into an enormous luxury apartment while its haughty owner is overseas for several months. TV critic and true-crime buff Lorraine Ali selects the 50 best true-crime documentaries you can stream on Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu, Prime Video and more. After he's able to compose himself, he goes deeper into the area and finds another room with the self-portrait and something super creepy. Voil: a pair of makeshift goggles. As Nemo starts to unscrew some of the bolts holding the glass panel up, he slips and tumbles all the way down the structure. Universities follow the money, How to find parking for the Taylor Swift Eras concerts at SoFi Stadium, Julie and Todd Chrisleys nightmare prison conditions from no air conditioning to rattlesnakes, kids say, Michelle Yeoh marries former racing exec Jean Todt after 19-year engagement, Daniel Kaluuyas Barney may be Mattels next box office smash, but for angsty millennials, Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White are extremely 80s in the first look at The Iron Claw, Simu Liu clears the air about non-beef with Ryan Gosling, his Barbie co-star and fellow Kenadian, NBCUniversal parent Comcast tiptoes around strike amid profit gains. Upon looking up at the ceiling in one of the rooms, Nemo notices a smoke alarm and thinks of a way to set it off. Its hard not to think of Inside as a pandemic lockdown movie in spirit, one meant to reflect familiar frustrations and feelings of isolation; Nemo even finds comfort in people-watching, by tuning into live security footage of people all around the building. Unfortunately for Nemo, the apartment's security system goes haywire before he gets out with the loot, sealing every exit shut with unbreakable glass and thick metal locks. For the first half of the film, the sculptures nine words are perfectly illuminated. Willem Dafoe plays a trapped art thief in Vasilis Katsoupiss film. Willem Dafoe stars in director Vasilis Katsoupis' "Inside." (Wolfgang Ennenbach / Focus Features) By Emily Zemler March 17, 2023 7:04 AM PT Most films set in the art world don't have a. Its about the idea of building your own precarious refuge inside the domestic environment with the illusion of this being something that protects you but actually being extremely vulnerable, Bigazzi says. Despite being alone, Dafoe's Nemo is active throughout as he tries to escape his gilded cage. It gives us the freedom to explore new things that were coming in the script.". From the trailer, it's more than likely that Dafoe will attempt to befriend the cooing bird as a way to stay sane, an equally hilarious and upsetting proposition. It explains why he puts his all into every character he plays. "Inside" Wolfgang Ennenbach / Focus Featu With the limited information on hand, audiences will fixate on small missteps (just as Nemo will become obsessed with everything from a dying pigeon on. Some people really respond to the idea of nailing it or executing it to perfection. I aspire to be an artist.". To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories, To revisit this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. Greek producers Heretic have just wrapped their first English-language production, Inside, starring Willem Dafoe. Focus Features. There's a sense of frustration that can be felt within Nemo in this setting and he abruptly leaves while the owner is talking to the guests. However, cinematographer Steve Annis camera rarely works in tandem with the space to enhance Nemos emotions or his physical experience. All the main elements of this growing subgenre are there, including Nemo's slow descent into madness as he's deprived of any human contact. He was also in danger of losing his green card, and, to avoid that fate, the bands manager struck a dark deal with the U.S. State Department, which wanted American performers who could spread the word, or the groove, behind enemy lines. Passionate about superhero comic books, horror films, and indie games, he works as a Senior Writer and Film Critic for Collider. Goes Out newsletter, with the week's best events, to help you explore and experience our city. This means that there are multiple ways to view this ending. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. It has little sense of continuity in between, rendering it less of an ongoing story and more of a checklist. Swift and feline, Nemo gathers all but one of the Schieles and prepares to depart, whereupon the security system locks the doors and shuts him in. 'Inside' Review: Tortured Artist, Meet Tortured Man It features several interesting ideas in theory, at least about art and the material world, but no two of them are strung together with anything resulting in intriguing imagery, propulsive stakes, or meaningful human drama. Why did they go? Unfortunately, after the penthouse's security system malfunctions, all the exits lock and the temperature system fluctuates between boiling hot and frigid cold. Two brilliant college lovers were convicted of a brutal slaying. Sinad O'Connor's Final Album Was One Track Away From Completion In the end, there simply isn't much help out there for Nemo and he's forced to rely on his own skills to survive. Vasilis Katsoupis makes . By using our Services, you agree to our use of cookies. The only possible exit is a skylight, and the only means of reaching it is to build a tower from a bedstead and other bits of furniture. Dafoe is known for tapping into a wild and crazed side of himself, and that's exactly what he brings to "Inside." Its like a small cinema. Vincent. Cookie Notice "Inside," the latest film from director Vasilis Katsoupis, sees an art thief's simple heist take a horrific turn. He has a way of making the audience feel guilty for witnessing Bateman's actions, even if they weren't responsible for them. Nemo finds the body of the owner sprawled out like a corpse in a morgue. So that does work on you. Scariest of all was Bucharest, where the concert was officially deemed too successful, where cops with German shepherds were on hand to quash the crowds delight, where one enthusiast was taken away and beaten for requesting an autograph, and where people dont enjoy the privilege of spontaneous outburst, as Clayton-Thomas reported, back in L.A. The film follows seasoned burglar Nemo (Willem Dafoe) as he attempts to steal art from a wealthy man's (Gene Bervoets) luxurious penthouse. In short, while Nemo is destroying the cold and static works of art he finds in the flat, hes also creating art as an extension of his mind, leaving behind traces of his existence that will survive long after his flesh perishes. The fire instantly sets off the alarm and then the sprinkler system that extinguishes the flames. Trump Calls Biden Dumb Son of a Bitch at Pennsylvania Rally The windows are unbreakable. [4] It stars Willem Dafoe, Gene Bervoets, and Eliza Stuyck. So even though I'm performing alone, I didn't feel at all alone, because I had this huge crew behind me supporting me.". So will there be a sequel? 'Inside' Review: Willem Dafoe Descends into Madness in Unnerving Aside from memes about being a scientist or spilling beans, the actor has won multiple Academy Awards, Golden Globes, and Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work. He goes between intimidating both the audience and Robert Pattinson's Ephraim Winslow with eye-bulging stories of Poseidon's wrath, eliciting sympathy as the two find comfort in each other during their isolation, and mesmerizing the audience as he insists on his innocence while their chances of survival slowly dwindle. Movie Info. As he scrawls over the walls with art supplies and creams out for help, he also finds himself being attacked by what could only be the man he set out to rob or wandering into taught hallways that glow a sickly verdant color. Whatever it hopes to say about the meaning of art and materialism it says in scattered spurts which rarely add up to a satisfying whole. Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. He's collaborated with many talented filmmakers, from Martin Scorsese to Lars von Trier and even Guillermo del Toro. The code doesnt work. I called Maurizio to ask him and he was really excited., That happened many times on the film, Katsoupis adds. Creation fascinates humans, from the most successful artists to a kid scrabbling a notebook. That means Inside turns Nemo into the manifestation of human endurance, thrilling the audience as he beats the odds and keeps stretching his life, one day at a time. I let my nails grow. Things go awry, and Nemo is unable to either exit the penthouse or call for help, leaving him trapped in a high-tech prison that slowly begins to fail him. A veteran of the entertainment industry, the 67-year-old Dafoe isn't afraid to push his body for a project. 2023 Cond Nast. There are clues within the film to suggest how much time has passed, but it's never explicitly stated. Ditto the fact that the cleaner (Eliza Stuyck) who Nemo glimpses on the security-cam feed wouldnt hear him bellowing for help even when shes right outside the thick, steel-plated door. "I had no consciousness of carrying it because it was so collaborative," Dafoe said. It belongs to a man of evident wealth and slightly uncertain taste, who is away in Kazakhstan. Er will ein millionenschweres Gemlde von Egon Schiele aus einem New Yorker Penthouse stehlen. "I didn't really go into a program of losing a lot of weight or anything like that. He decides that before making one last attempt to get the skylight off, he's going to leave the owner a message. The most cynical among us might say it's to be used for tax evasion maneuvers, money laundry, and as investment assets for the wealthy and we wouldn't be wrong. Nemo tries to contact them until his radio dies, but he never receives a response. Peter Bradshaw. Because they were shooting chronologically, Willem had a lot of time on set to negotiate his relationship with the works, Bigazzi recalls. Why am I not wearing this? Bigazzi remembers. No one knows this better than Willem Dafoe, the lead in the upcoming psychological horror film Inside. While Nemo might come off as just a simple art thief, he's actually got some survival skills that are pretty impressive. From losing all hope to making the best use of every resource to survive, the film focuses on the shifting temperaments of Nemo, an art thief. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, Which means we get to watch Dafoe go full Upper-East-Side Robinson Crusoe in one of the sleekest modern-deco wastelands ever give it up for production designer Thorsten Sabel, who turns this chic pad into a caricature of art-snob taste and that Greek filmmaker Vasilis Katsoupis has his formalist work cut out for him. The first is the most simple Nemo escapes out of the skylight and either gets rescued or suffers the same fate as the pigeon did outside the window. "Because I was the only actor, I had a really profound collaboration with all the departments, you know, the props that I was handling, the stunt stuff, the makeup, all those things I'm involved in. He apologizes to the owner for destroying his home and attempting to steal from him. However, once Inside lays its roadmap of potential hurdles, from dwindling supplies and broken plumbing to a thermostat on the fritz, it rarely returns its focus to any of these issues as continued problems. The temp starts going up: 74 degrees, 80 degrees, 104 degrees. Inside The Bottom Line Gripping at first, then just distancing and draining. Nemo's mind has clearly started to slip from reality and it's not too long until his weakened mental state mixes with his current readings about heaven and hell, which makes him begin to display some eerie behavior. The passage of time in Inside is yet another oddity. As the story commences, a helicopter deposits Nemo onto the roof of a tall building in New York. For me, this work was perfect because Nemo finds himself in a situation where hes there to steal and he ends up in a prison, Bigazzi says. Willem Dafoe describes being the only actor 'Inside' for film about The fact that Nemo is played by Willem Dafoe, however, also ensures that at the very least, you can expect some extreme commitment to the craft onscreen. For more information, please see our It may recall other films which are similar in concept, like Danny Boyles wilderness-survival drama 127 Hours, or more pertinently, Vikramaditya Motwanes Trapped, a 2017 Indian thriller also featuring a character stuck in a high-rise apartment. Although Nemo seems to be surrounded by a sense of luxury and wealth that most would enjoy, it ultimately becomes a nightmare for him and a surprisingly tough survival situation. Isolation is a terrifying concept. Sadly, it gets worse as the sprinkler system starts to flood the place. Should we bracket Dafoe, compellingly wiry as he is, with the acutely angled stiffness of the Schiele picturethe enigmatic substances I am made of, as the artist wrote in 1911? He said, Im going to be freezing cold. An alarm is triggered. Nemo, a high-end art thief, is trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn't go as planned. On the threshold of existence, Nemo exposes the harsh truth that art, in itself, has no purpose, at least in the most material sense of the word. I like perfection, I appreciate that. While we won't see Dafoe downing bottles of gin between ramblings about Poseidon and seagulls, we can expect a similar level of lunacy from Inside. So while there are scenes where I'm starving, or really thirsty, yeah, that's acting. When he's not contributing to Movieweb, Sean can be found playing video games, cooking, or listening to NoMeansNo -- the greatest Canadian cultural export next to Rush. Other moments highlighted by Katsoupis include a stand-up comedy joke about chicken and Dafoe's interactions with the real artwork dotted around the fictional apartment. His head then slams into the counter and he awakes to find that he's still the only one there. Special Report: Future of Music 2023 The gas and the water have been switched off in the apartment, meaning that Nemo cant cook any food or flush the toilet. Two ways to win the Cold War. (We wonder whether this hitting the cultural bloodstream after years of pandemic lockdowns is a boon or a burden, considering that so many of us might have strongly related to our mans fine madness had this come out in late 2020.) Dafoe is stellar at portraying subtle annoyance that eventually turns into desperation. There's a shot where Nemo is sitting defeated during this horrific indoor storm and it's a perfect culmination of his feelings at the moment. However, few filmmaking elements complement his work. The look is part handyman, part demon. Related: Inside Trailer Breakdown: Willem Dafoe Is a Trapped Art Thief Spiraling Into Madness. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all. Frankly, this plan already suffered quite a few setbacks. Getty Images / Focus Features/Dia Dipasupil / Wolfgang Ennenbach. "Inside". In Inside, Nemo tries to do whatever he can to stay alive, as would anyone else. Willem Dafoe's artistic creativity flowed whilst filming his new movie, Inside, when he was trapped on his own, stuck in a small place for a very long time. Other actors are seen and heard from time to time, but the vast majority of Inside features Dafoe alone, for an unspecified length of time. RELATED: 'Manodrome' Review: Jesse Eisenberg Struggles With Inner Rage in Raw Deconstruction of Masculinity | Berlinale 2023. Dafoe stopped short of starving himself for the role. An Oral History of 'The Fugitive', Will Smith Calls Actor and Writer Strikes a 'Pivotal Moment for Our Profession', Trump PAC Requested $60 Million Refund Amid Legal Woes: Report, See Foo Fighters and Alanis Morissette Honor Sinead O'Connor With 'Mandinka' Cover in Japan, Darell Breaks Down the Surprises and Smash Collabs from His New Album 'Everybody Go to the Discotek', Lizzo Drops the 'Bad Day' Version of Her 'Barbie Album' Standout 'Pink'. Number 2 (voiced by Vincent Eaton)quickly disappears after the alarm is raised, and Number 3(voiced by Andrew Blumenthal) tells Nemo that he is on his own. But just by the physical nature of it on the set, you know, basically 12 hours a day, in the dark every day, time gets bent. All rights reserved. More importantly, Nemo mentions that destroying the penthouse was possibly a good thing since as Nemoexplains there is no creation without destruction. More than it knows, this movie is an engaging, and sometimes enraging, expos of chronic insularity. Dubbed The Moth by the filmmakers, Do you realise there is a rainbow even if its night! Despite Willem Dafoes powerful acting work as an art thief trapped in a luxurious penthouse, Inside offers little by way of insight into its main character, his surroundings, or the scenario in which he finds himself. The question is, why does this keep happening? Everyone knows thats in the MOMA collection, so it would be impossible for our collector to have this artwork, Katsoupis says. "Inside" not only shocks and horrifies viewers through Dafoe's performance and what he's forced to endure it also hooks them through its unique survival situation.