Tenet; A Lost Nolan.
In December of 2019 the first Tenet trailer was put onto screens bringing immense excitement and suspense to Nolan fans and the common cinema goer a like. Though with the coronavirus pandemic hitting, the film was set back multiple times and the anticipation for it was allowed to develop as we all had to sit at home and watch old films, especially Nolan ones to get our fix. Though eventually the aforementioned project was realised on the 12th of august 2020 in cinemas and was met with one of the most varying responses which has ever been seen by a film.There were those who loved it to the point of saying it was Nolan’s best work and those who felt it to be an emotionless masterpiece, but for me tenet was a lost Nolan.
In past interviews Nolan has said that the movie which shaped his cinema as a child was Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001 a space odyssey’, now to make the easiest connection to Nolan and 2001 would be through his 2014 hit Interstellar which was one of the most acclaimed films of the year and for me is one of Nolan’s best works. However where this connection really lies is with Tenet. In tenet we get a protagonist who is just as much in the dark as the audience and at the end of the movie finds himself to be the head of operation with all the steps which had been taken to put the operation in place he must now take. Whilst in Kubrick’s 2001 we get a protagonist who like tenet must travel through a space and time in which he is just as prepared as the audience for what is to come.
Though when I say Nolan is lost so too was Kubrick and it is not necessarily a bad thing. In both movies the connection to the character and the story is not one of emotion for the viewer but intrigue, we are simply wanting to explore the world which the protagonist is in and we can use them as our eye into that world. This allows Nolan to get lost in the world which is both a blessing and a curse. By doing so Nolan creates a world which I am still trying to figure out with multiple trips and plot twists which will take multiple viewings to get my head round too some extent and this is exactly what Nolan would want and what Kubrick wanted to do with 2001. For them the beauty of these movies is the interpretation, the emotions which are evoked from it, the ideas and theory’s which the viewer is given. It does what every Nolan movie does from Memento to Inception; it keeps the movie alive. This exactly the same way in which Kubrick attacked cinema, he wanted the movie to carry on forever with the giant foetus at the end of 2001 leaving complete ambiguity and no clarity to the closing image of the shinning where we see Jack in a picture on the wall in 1921 potentially making everything which happened in the movie put into doubt.
Though what is the difference with Kubrick, being lost the right thing its the whole point of his 2001 a space odyssey to make a piece which is completely made for being lost in and having no core to grab onto, making the movie more a piece of visual art then a movie which typically airs on prime time for the average person. And I understand why Nolan has ended up with the film he has but what he has not done is chosen whether he is creating something which is made for the visuals and the epic or a piece which is at its core a story, for me he has gotten lost in a purgatory between the two. Though this is not to say that movies which are cinematically amazing cannot have a well developed thoughtful plot or story, rather Nolan has done just that in his movies such Inception, but what he has failed to do in Tenet is pair the visual and the story together in the way which he has done in so many of his films. Rather I feel like he should have taken the leap of faith and gone for all out ambiguity with tenet leaving almost no answers or found the perfect blend between the epic and the tale.
Though whilst nothing can be taken away from Nolan for the cinematography in this movie as it is one of his best with the incredible action stunts from the Batman series moving into the real world and of course seeing anything in reverse will intrigue the naked eye and this is the centre of the film. Though what has always been the key to a Nolan film is bringing the huge action and excitement to a movie which hits the soul of the viewer and leaves the movie alive after it is finished not just because it had a cool plot twist but because the viewer really cares for the characters their future and the ending they have. This is where I feel the link to space odyssey and where Nolan has lost himself in the spectacle; of course the spectacle is brilliant but lost.
Leaving the cinema after the conclusion of a dramatic action sequence which saw a fight take place in reverse and forwards as the two work in time to get the tenet machine I felt no urge to go back and rewatch it, to know what it all meant, to figure out the characters future. Rather I left the cinema thinking that Nolan my favourite director like he always does created a world full of intrigue for the spectacle and beauty of it, but his other movies such as Inception or Interstellar which had this in abundance alongside care for the characters themselves. Though rather for tenet I left thinking that Robert Pattinson’s character was cool and wouldn’t mind getting a suit like him instead of the feeling that his death has left me somewhat sad the rest of the night, unlike Inception with the spinner not falling over leaving me in a shock which has left me thinking of whether it was dream or not till this very day, instead I felt emotionless to the character and like Nolan had to just get lost in the spectacle that was the movie.
For this is the same reason that I did not love 2001 the way which many seem to adore it, its cinematography was ahead of its time and holds up to this day and is what makes the film everything it is believed to be but is the exact reason it is not higher then an eight for me and so too this is the case with Tenet. For me a movie has to go beyond the visuals it has to connect with the viewer and be with them after they stop watching it not just because it had a cool stunt in that has no more direction then a cool youtube clip, rather it must make the viewer hurt and feel with the characters like Nolan has done so many of his other movies but has failed to do in tenet, create feeling.
