I think the problem with Nolan's Odyssey has nothing to do…
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I think the problem with Nolan's Odyssey has nothing to do with "Wokism". If there's one thing I've always struggled with about his films, it's something else: their absolute solemnity.
I liked the film and thoroughly enjoyed watching it. But, as is the case with almost all of his films, I had the feeling that everything is treated with a constant seriousness. In Nolan's universe, there's hardly any room for humor, irony, or absurdity, even when the original material contains them.
And that, precisely, is one of the things that surprises me most in an adaptation of the Odyssey.
Homer's work has a great deal of humor. Obviously, it's not a comedy, but there is a continuous mix of registers. It can shift from terror to wit, from tragedy to mockery.
The episode of Polyphemus is a good example. It's a scene of enormous tension, but also very funny. Odysseus tricks the Cyclops by telling him his name is "Nobody." After blinding him, Polyphemus cries out for help, shouting, "Nobody is killing me!" The other Cyclopes arrive, hear this, and leave, thinking nothing is wrong.
Homer's work is full of such episodes that show us the hero's cunning, ridicule the arrogant, and make the narrative more human.
In contrast, Nolan seems to systematically eliminate that register. Everything takes on the same solemn tone, as if any moment of lightness would weaken the importance of the story. For me, it has the opposite effect: when everything is momentous, in the end nothing stands out.
I think the comparison with Total Recall (Verhoeven) and Inception illustrates the difference well. Both tell very similar stories. But Verhoeven introduces dark humor and irony. He never lets the film become a sermon about his own importance. Nolan, on the other hand, films a similar concept with almost uninterrupted seriousness.
#conversation
I liked the film and thoroughly enjoyed watching it. But, as is the case with almost all of his films, I had the feeling that everything is treated with a constant seriousness. In Nolan's universe, there's hardly any room for humor, irony, or absurdity, even when the original material contains them.
And that, precisely, is one of the things that surprises me most in an adaptation of the Odyssey.
Homer's work has a great deal of humor. Obviously, it's not a comedy, but there is a continuous mix of registers. It can shift from terror to wit, from tragedy to mockery.
The episode of Polyphemus is a good example. It's a scene of enormous tension, but also very funny. Odysseus tricks the Cyclops by telling him his name is "Nobody." After blinding him, Polyphemus cries out for help, shouting, "Nobody is killing me!" The other Cyclopes arrive, hear this, and leave, thinking nothing is wrong.
Homer's work is full of such episodes that show us the hero's cunning, ridicule the arrogant, and make the narrative more human.
In contrast, Nolan seems to systematically eliminate that register. Everything takes on the same solemn tone, as if any moment of lightness would weaken the importance of the story. For me, it has the opposite effect: when everything is momentous, in the end nothing stands out.
I think the comparison with Total Recall (Verhoeven) and Inception illustrates the difference well. Both tell very similar stories. But Verhoeven introduces dark humor and irony. He never lets the film become a sermon about his own importance. Nolan, on the other hand, films a similar concept with almost uninterrupted seriousness.
#conversation
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