Tenet

Anti-linear film logically offers an insightful lesson about any linearity of human behavior - a vector never leads to a goal, success, or end; it just returns in an infinite loop to its starting point, and we observe: a longing to change, a sense of missing, a search for termination; a new beginning. The villain, who believes they control time, always loses through it; humanity, fearful of its annihilation, will always be reborn after it; the hero, gradually building self-awareness as both substance and subject, is always thrown back to the beginning of the search: the beginning of the film, which is both the end and the beginning. The only lesson is that it's all completely insignificant. Blockbuster nihilism. A person is merely an unconscious mover of their own unconscious decision, about which it cannot be said when it originated because it is always decentralized from its consciousness. The inherent paradox of the film is that its time cannot be reversed: afterward, errors in the script will undoubtedly become apparent. Similarly, the film cannot be stopped because people would then have time to contemplate things, and the magic would be lost. But! Time cannot be stopped either, so these arguments are not valid in this context at all. (28.08.2020)

In many ways reminiscent of the blockbuster space-time series Dark, which wrapped up its third and final season this year. Nolan, however, has again taken a completely different approach to the perception of time, and traditionally shows the viewer not a shred of sympathy in the telling of his complexly intricate, but perfectly crafted story. This time, to my surprise, he was not afraid to add more action scenes and more challenging stunts. In short, Tenet is another precise screenwriting treat with a vibrant score by Zimmer scholar Ludwig Göransson. Epic camera shots with fascinating, natural non-green screen effects that are a joy to behold. (28.08.2020)

Christopher Nolan is even more distant and colder to his characters this time around than usual; on the other hand, he once again manages a narrative ultra mindfuck that playfully puts the rest of the blockbuster production in the deepest pocket. It's remains in question how much of Tenet is actually watchable, because unlike Inception, we don't get any downright "explanatory" scenes followed by some refreshing understanding. The film is terribly self-focused, but it's so beautifully purely nerdy and audiovisually enchanting that it's actually impossible not to love it. Along with Memento, it's probably the least accessible Nolan when it comes to some deeper understanding of the story. Still, I’ve given both Memento and Tenet 5 stars, because I obviously enjoy the hell out of their incomprehensibility. (03.09.2020)

A truly exhausting film that demands your full attention throughout its whole runtime, because once you tune out for even a single moment, you have virtually no chance of getting back on the same wavelength with Nolan, and the rest of your experience will get drowned out by the deafening noise and convolutedness of the plot. I must admit that the first time I watched it, I felt almost physically exhausted and was not far from getting lost in the plot. But in that mind-blowing moment, as the main character begins to understand and use his ability to change the flow of time, everything suddenly starts to fall into place, and it is one hell of a ride. Tenet is indeed Nolan's most ambitious film, and like all his other films, it will be subjected to a variety of, more or less justified, criticism. But as always, it is the only really must-see film of the year whose technical side, storytelling, and the way it is filmed relegates the rest of the Hollywood production to second-class status. (30.08.2020)

Let's be honest - who understood this movie right from the beginning? :) Time traveling and bending of the spacetime continuum are always quite complicated matters, but they can be presented in a relatively understandable way, which, unfortunately, wasn't the case for me here. The concept is great, the actors are good (Pattinson pleasantly surprises), the effects are cool, and the action is intense, but towards the end, there are too many unanswered questions and a slight taste of not fully grasping the plot, resulting in an incomplete experience. Christopher Nolan has shown he can do much better, as demonstrated in movies like Inception or Interstellar. This is, for me, his weakest work so far, but still a quality watch. (23.07.2023)