Tell the truth– the last time you broke into a penthouse apartment in Manhattan to steal million-dollar art, you took your cell phone with you, just in case your brilliant plan went awry. You’re smart that way. But alas, Nemo, the thief Willem Dafoe portrays in the cerebral new film, Inside, isn’t as organized. When security systems unexpectedly engage, sealing him inside the apartment as tightly as a pharaoh in a tomb, he can’t call for help, a plot improbability it’s best not to dwell on for long.
Director Vasilis Katsoupis, a Greek documentarian making his feature debut, and screenwriter Ben Hopkins sidestep the big markers of plot logic in favor of immediately narrowing Nemo’s world. A pro, he does not panic. The water and gas are turned off but there’s a decorative wading pool filled with water, and though the refrigerator is empty, there are tins of caviar, and vodka, and for a day or two, that’s sufficient.
The freezer is timed to the apartment sound system, which breaks out with the dance song “Macarena,” at full blast, if Nemo leaves the door open too long. This seems to both amuse and insult Nemo, as if the absent owner is mocking his lowbrow tenant. Weeks into his ordeal, a depleted Nemo will bury his head deep into that freezer to relieve the 104 degree temperature that has risen from the apartment’s air conditioning, which swings between the extremes of hot and cold as if to purposefully torture.
A man of action, Nemo begins using a knife to dig through the huge wooden front door. That door will prove impenetrable, but as an object, it is textured and beautiful and the warmest sight in this sleek, minimalist apartment. Production designer Thorsten Sabel (Cloud Atlas) has created a space for the captured thief that suggests a homeowner living in service to modern art and willing to sacrifice comfort for its proper presentation. In fac, art aficionados will want to lean close to study Inside, which features new and recreated work…
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