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Inside ©2023 SquareOne | Steve Annis

“Art comes from ability” – there is hardly anyone in Germany who has not been confronted with this phrase. It is usually used jokingly to cover up a lack of talent in terms of artistic ability. But this expression is actually correct, since “art” is a noun abstract of the verb “to be able”. The reason that the terms are not inherently correlated is that in modern times art is usually equated with the “fine arts” and many people therefore have only a limited definition of the term in mind. The fine arts encompass all common works and processes of creation around music, theatre, dance, film, literature, paintings, sculpture, architecture and similar creative developments. However, the concept of art itself originally encompasses all activities that are not based on static and mindless processes, but are shaped by knowledge, practice, perception, imagination and intuition.

Director Vasilis Katsoupis should be very familiar with this concept, because he learned a lot from the visual artist Breda Beban during his media and film studies. Nevertheless, his knowledge and possibilities were not nearly enough to realise the idea of INSIDE. In the creative process, the team therefore worked with the Italian art curator Leonardo Bigazzi, who had already co-produced the Italian short documentary PLATEAU. It came as quite a surprise to Katsoupis that his film idea was well received on the international stage and that various opportunities immediately opened up for a feature film director’s debut to give the realisation the foundations it needed. In particular, the successful casting of four-time Oscar® nominee Willem Dafoe brought joy to the team, as Katsoupis felt he was tailor-made for the lead role.

What it’s about

A talented burglar, Nemo specialises in art theft and is in the middle of a new job. His target is a luxurious penthouse belonging to a wealthy art collector who is out of town for an extended period of time. After Nemo has made it into the flat without any problems and has collected the first riches, an alarm suddenly sounds and the state-of-the-art technical equipment starts to lock the place automatically. Despite all attempts, Nemo does not manage to escape and is helplessly locked in. He seems to resign himself to the situation, but he is not yet aware of the challenges that await him. Left to his own devices, the thief is drawn into a dramatic fight for survival and must ask himself what value the expensively traded art really has.

Review

The title says it all here, because we actually go inside on several levels of meaning with the film INSIDE. On the one hand, it describes the basis of the plot in that Willem Dafoe is locked in a penthouse, but on the other hand, we also embark on a journey into the protagonist’s inner self as well as into the depths of meaningful art and the fundamental questions of life. Vasilis Katsoupis creates an unusual CAST AWAY scenario with an unpleasant pinch of realism and takes place in a huge art exhibition. While the first few minutes suggest that we are in the midst of a fast-paced heist movie, Katsoupis manages to switch genres in no time at all by means of a clever development, taking the pace out and serving us a varied and instructive thriller.

Inside ©2023 SquareOne | Steve Annis

At the centre of it all, the incredible Willem Dafoe once again shines in a solo performance. There seems to be a certain pattern in his choice of films, for he has already delivered more or less cinematic monodramas with THE LIGHTHOUSE, RIVER and AT ETERNITY’S GATE, in which the focus is entirely on his extraordinary acting and captures his perfectionist interaction with the world around him. In INSIDE, he is now relegated to facing a modern survival drama in which time loses all relation. A Dafoe crouching on the ground, struggling for a small drop of water, is a fantastic reference to his performance in THE LIGHTHOUSE, where he lies in the mud in the pouring rain, pleading for survival. His multi-faceted performance ensures that the film is never boring and that not only the burglar but also the art connoisseur can be bought.

Cathartic art chamber play

Art is generally an important element in this work. More than 40 works of art of various kinds, all from private collections, can be found in the plot, creating a kind of hidden object in which both layman and connoisseur are always on the lookout. The works are subtly curated and matched to both the premises and the story. Not infrequently, they provide the content with more scope for interpretation and depth. Among other things, INSIDE also deals with the meaning of art and addresses the question of whether it is possibly the most important commodity of humanity. While many replicas have been used, there are indeed some specially commissioned pieces. For example, “The Moth Costume” by Kosovar artist Petrit Halilaj, which also brings a reference to the fact that moths hide in the structure of a house to find a way to live – much like our protagonist.

Living is one of the trickiest themes in this film. While the thought of being locked up in a luxury flat sounds quite sympathetic at first, it turns into a struggle to satisfy basic human needs. The audience loses all sense of time and can only read it in the process of the protagonist’s mental confusion, as well as his increasing atrophy. While a disdainful glance is cast at the bourgeoisie of a society by ubiquitously questioning the absurdity of excessive and pointless wealth, the cautionary hint at the dangers of artificial intelligence in times of ChatGPT and Lamda, seems like a punch in the gut.

Inside ©2023 SquareOne | Steve Annis

Surreal digressions

As meticulously and meaningfully crafted as this film is, it also relies heavily on willful suspension of disbelief. The audience is put in charge of blindly trusting some events in order to perceive the entire plot as a coherent whole. For example, various alarms in a highly secured penthouse filled with the most expensive works of art do not ensure that even a single soul cares about this event. Since the story takes place in New York and US legislation never ceases to amaze us, it would not even be so far-fetched that in reality a lawsuit for negligent deprivation of liberty and other legalities would be the consequence.

Conclusion

Provided that a few points of the sloppy script are disregarded, feature film debutant Vasilis Katsoupis shows us an extraordinary and stirring cinematic monodrama, which can also be categorised as a survivalist movie. Meanwhile, Willem Dafoe’s Oscar® hunt continues and could perhaps finally find a conciliatory conclusion in this film. The acting versatility of this exceptional talent needs no further elaboration after THE LIGHTHOUSE and AT ETERNITY’S GATE and is once again perfectionistically staged here. Art is not only a means to an end here, but a central focus of meaning. Through the balanced and high-quality staging, even the film itself ultimately becomes a work of art, which for me is also immediately rated as a special little film pearl.

How did you like the movie?
(1 Bewertungen, Durchschnitt: 7,00 von 10)

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