Just watched it myself for the first time. It was entertaining but I’ll admit I found it somewhat frustrating, especially the last half hour or so. By that point I had become a little too tangled up with who was going in which direction and how it was all fitting together that by the end I was left a bit cold. I’m used to Nolan’s somewhat chilly sensibility, but this one was a little too emotionally uninvolving for my taste. I’ll obviously give it another shot in a short while and maybe I’ll have an easier time keeping track of it all then. Soundtrack was off the hook awesome, though. I’ve never heard anything quite like that.
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It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.
Or in the case of Tenet, just end up confusing yourself and missing the story of guilt and responsibility.
HUGE SPOILER
Summary
Given the end, Neil has basically been doing this all film;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKIo10C8HME
Which made me laugh
Okay, finally having seen the film now I must say: I liked it a lot. Nolan shoots and edits action perfectly. The film moves incredibly fast. It is shot spectacularly, acted magnificently by every one involved, and Göransson´s score is wonderful.
Do I understand the whole plot? I don’t. It basically deals with a principle that is hard for me to wrap my head around. But I was actually adjusting to it the longer the film went on. I definitely want to see it again. But maybe… I already have.
That is a spoiler. Or was it already when I first thought about it?
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Again confirms that he had no control over Tenet’s release, which AT&T just loudly demonstrated.
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I watched TENET myself last night for the first time and agree completely with your take, @secretagentfan. I can grasp the overall plot in a general sense but not quite the intricacies of the time inversion concept and as a result, had trouble regulating the rules it established. But the score and cinematography are outstanding, as is the staging and execution of the action scenes. Nolan’s growth in terms of action has been a real joy to watch.
Speaking of the cinematography, Hoyte Van Hoytema proves that the problem with the muddy visuals in SPECTRE are exclusively the fault of Mendes as his work in TENET is stunningly gorgeous. I’m looking forward to watching it again, not only to gain a clearer understanding, but to savor the visuals more deeply.
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Watching some YouTube explanations I am questioning my ability to perceive narrative information. So many details I missed…
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Reposting this article on what process is happening in the film. Below is the actual study.
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EDIT: I’ve only just got to watch this all the way through. Nolan makes a point about being terrified of doing a comedy - this actually relates to an acting truth that an actor who can do comedy can do ANYTHING because comedy is the hard one.
That tragedy mask is very easily found and shared, the comedy mask is easy found but virtually impossible to share.
Also note the sheer joy on Branagh when he can talk about the specifics of Shakespeare
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Lead of Nolan’s college films as well as Following. He also is in Tenet at the private club with Sir Michael and is Shane Rimmer’s engineer in Batman Begins.
Outside of Nolan, he does a lot of moody indie dramas.
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I finally made it through Tenet on my third try (don’t have a drink beforehand!), and I can only say that it is just so very Nolan. It’s not executed as well as Inception or Memento, as its time mechanics are more intricate and convoluted. But it is the closest Nolan has come to making a Bond film (with scenes evoking QoS, FYEO, and Thunderball/NSNA.) I found myself having to rewind certain scenes of dialogue, and felt the characters reduced to relaying exposition for much of it. Yet there are moments (Kat confronting Andre) and Neil’s final appearances where character is at the heart of the scenes. Definitely one I’m looking forward to seeing again (a reason to buy, not rent).
The fights and chases are as good as those found in the Matrix franchise, and the score is just fantastic. But this does feel like Nolan has now exhausted all his time manipulation tricks for storytelling. One of the best most subtle scenes was after the opera house, where the protagonist is being beaten by bad guys in front of trains both coming and going. It’s confusing to see what’s actually happening, but I think that’s the point Nolan is telegraphing.
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Not really, It’s basically just a motorway with roundabouts (literally at one point). Just follow the route you’re actually driving and not try and follow the routes of every other car on the road at once.
Summary
It is. The scene is easy to follow if you just watch the protagonist rather than try to follow all the relative experiences at once. It’s a microcosm of the film.
“Doesn’t matter. They believe it” as Neil puts it…who you should follow the second time you watch it, as, like him, you know what’s going to happen.
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Are you talking about the chase scene, or do you mean metaphorically?
I was referring to the script. For example, Memento is told backwards at 15 minute intervals and Nolan sets this up with one of the side characters’ dialogue on short term memory in the very beginning. But in Interstellar, Nolan loops the end back to the beginning with the fifth dimensional “aliens.” Tenet seemed like a combination of those two narrative devices.
Summary
I meant Both, with Nolan literally using a motorway car chase to demonstrate his motor way model of time travel.
Forward along a period of time is the left hand side of the road, backwards along that timeframe is the right hand side of the road, with the turnstile that flips entropy acting as the roundabout to take the driver from one lane to the other. From the drivers POV, they’re always on the left driving forwards.
If anything Tenet has the simplest narrative structure of any Nolan film as you follow one person solidly in a straight line, who is able to trust his own brain and at no point is withholding information or lying.
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I watched it again the other night, and it made the most since yet now that I knew what to look for. But I still need to watch it again with particular attention to when “inverted” Neil appears. I like the film, especially as a de factor Bond movie–it’s got stunts, one liners, big bad vilains, a cool pre-credits scene, chivalrous heroism, and a big battle at the end. I’d be okay with a Nolan directed Bond film.
I’m still finding it confusing and wish it wasn’t so much work to enjoy. But I am enjoying it.
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Summary
In particular watch what Neil does when he’s being asked about parallel world v Pre-destination, it’s quite blatant when you realise he actually knew everything that was going to happen in the rest of the film.
Saw Tenet the other night. It was so bad, it makes any Bond movie seem like grand opera.
2 months later and I came across the video I was trying to find;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7tV7v71k-I 12:50
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Splendid - thank you!
By the way, while we’re debating Nolan - I just can’t shake the thought that TDKR, at the time even celebrated by the dreadful 45, inspired him. We can see it in lifting parts of Bane´s speech for the inauguration, and now in the insurrection plan.
45 got paid for them using a street outside of Trump Tower (it’s the street where Wayne gets his car repossessed) so naturally he loved that bit of the film.
He also took his whole power grab model from the Star Wars prequels: Build a wall, sew division, call for emergency powers to fix problem you caused
As the world has seen, everything relates to Duck Fart in his eyes.
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Rewatching Tenet (again, because it’s a brilliant film) and it occurs to me 45 is Sator
“If I can’t have you, no-one can”
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