Willem Dafoe is stuck in a swanky New York apartment after attempting to steal arms full of high-end art. Inside is a mainstream chamber piece with a little arthouse injection in a largely enjoyable, if a little bloated affair.
One thing that Inside doesn’t do is waste time getting going. Sweeping shots of the famous Manhattan skyline quickly take us into the apartment block in which the entire movie is set. This is no little East Village one-bedroom affair, by the way, but an iPad-controlled, multi-million dollar concrete block of a property, high up among the skyscrapers in the heart of the city. Dafoe is Nemo, a thief specialising in snatching priceless art pieces, in this case, ones belonging to the apartment owner (Gene Bervoets), the centerpiece being a particular portrait worth multi-millions is nowhere to be seen. Baffled by its absence, Nemo mises his window to escape, the screen on the door preventing the exit doors from opening. With his unseen accomplices, heard through walkie-talkies, ditching him, he’s left without means of getting out, and indeed communicating with the outside world. Of course, this is an apartment without a landline phone, and Nemo seemingly doesn’t carry a mobile with him (supposedly as it would reveal his whereabouts). He properly stuck, the walls solid, the doors too, and the windows unbreakable.
The film charts his journey ‘inside’, from locating water sources (the taps don’t work), to scraps of food – some in a fridge that plays the Macarena when the door has been open for too long, and a non-flushing toilet, presenting other personal hygiene issues.
The tone of the film is an interesting one to try to describe. What starts out as what to appears to be solidly planted as a high-concept popcorn movie, slowly fades away as the narrative progresses. If you know Dafoe’s output of late, from the likes of The Lighthouse to Siberia (which also premiered here in Berlin – might give you an idea of what Inside slowly morphs into. Of course, the actor is brilliant in the solitary role and, bar one scene some way in, he is asked to carry the film alone.
There’s a lot going on, but once those doors are locked, the film ambles along at a much slower pace. It’s this which may divide audiences, not fast-paced enough to capture the popcorn crown or enough arthouse flavour to bag other tastes. A 100-minute running time feels like more, and the film feels bloated, but I got a lot out of it, mainly due to the Dafoe performance and the intriguing premise and execution from director Vasilis Katsoupis. Like all great art, completely divisive, but well worth looking at.
Inside was reviewed at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival.
Inside
Summary
A slow-burning but involving film with another great performance from Dafoe. No one quite shouts fuck as often and effectively as he does in this. Like all great art, well worth a look to see if it connects.
