Inside

Everything is glued together by another Dafoe performance that proves he’s one of the greatest actors of all time, especially when given enough room to tap into the lunacy of his characters. In short, Katsoupis managed to craft a crowd pleaser that still has something interesting to say.

Inside is set up as a psychological thriller/escape movie, but evolves into something rather more intriguing: a philosophical interrogation of the value of art to a dying man.

Dafoe is always a wonder to watch. But the picture needed more drama, maybe a touch of humor about its “Martian” styled “work the problem” exercise, and more of a sense of self-awareness in our thief who is trapped “inside” a just deserts parable of his own creation.

Without an actor like Dafoe at its center (and margins and everywhere else), it would be unwatchable torture. With him, it’s more like watchable torture, easier to admire than enjoy.

As a showcase for the inimitable Dafoe it has its minor freaky-deaky pleasures. Ultimately, though, it goes nowhere—literally and figuratively.

Inside‘s concept holds creative possibility, yes, but without much, if any, applied, it’s just a guy stuck in an apartment for 105 minutes, going through various stages of disbelief, acceptance, mania, determination and setback as days, weeks and months go by, and desperation becomes more of a necessity than a last resort.

Watching Inside is like being stuck inside a house, unable to escape. No, it’s worse than that. It’s like being stuck inside a house, unable to escape, and Willem Dafoe is there with you.

Psychological thriller about a thief end up locked up into a (broken) intelligent rooftop in NY during a heist - directed by Vasilis Katsoupi (in his 2nd incursion as director after "My Friend Larry Gus") and written by Ben Hopkins (Lost in Karastan). So ok, both of them don't have anything good on their **** I must say before anything that I don't think most reviews are just to this movie - he is actually good. Beside the plot he has some underlined themes as the value of art and some curious ways that art can be created. As a side extra the apartment had real art as art not props. All we know that Willem Dafoe acts in very controversial pieces of art when he choses it and 100% of the movie is in motion by him. And as I said it have a message - just not expect a totally explained end (although I got it, and the after is of no concern what may frustrate some people). As a whole I give this one a 7,0 out of 10,0 / B score.

Salva-se o esforço do Willem Defoe para tornar a experiência mais palatável, por mais absurda que seja. Os textos são econômicos e rasos. Mas a grande questão é: por um acaso os discos do Ac/DC não são arte não, minha gente?

IN A NUTSHELL: The thriller is about Nemo, a high-end art thief who is trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn’t go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive. The film was directed by Vasilis Katsoupis, who also helped write the movie with Ben Hopkins. THINGS I LIKED: I adore Willem Dafoe and think he’s such an incredible actor, so I was excited to see what he would do with this role. As always, he’s great. The premise is interesting for a survival movie of sorts. It’s tough to keep an audience interested when there is only one actor and one location throughout the entire film. It’s entertaining to watch Dafoe discover the many smart-home features in the penthouse and how he chooses to utilize what he finds in the house. It’s a fascinating perspective on the pandemic quarantine. The movie asks us an interesting question: If your house were burning down, which 3 objects would you grab to take with you?” The title says it all. Yes, the thief is INSIDE an expensive penthouse, but the director wants us to go INSIDE the thief’s head to explore more important themes. I love survival movies that make me question what I would do to survive in similar situations. I kept looking for deep meaning in every frame and found some interesting symbolism between art, mankind, the purpose of life, the importance of human connection, and more. In terms of art, it was interesting to see the giant sculpture that Willem Dafoe’s character built in search of hope. THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: It’s pretty unrealistic that the luxury building wouldn’t have been notified when all of the alarms started blaring at the beginning of the movie or when the apartment was flooded. He seemed to give up so quickly, although we really can’t tell how much time has actually passed. Based on Willem Dafoe’s desperation, it looks like many, many months. SPOILER: We learn nothing about Willem Dafoe’s heist buddies and why they didn’t return to try to help him escape. Unlike the movie The Martian (I love that movie!), this drama could have used some humor in the solo survival experience. There is a scene that is supposed to give us some background information, but it doesn’t really add much to the story. TIPS FOR PARENTS: The average viewer will be bored and complain that “nothing happens.” Profanity, including lots of F-bombs. Some squiggly TV images of porn Nude art drawings We see a man pee standing up, but we don’t see any private parts. We see some bloodied body parts.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]