Seeing as I’m among the world’s most unoriginal and awkward people, my default conversation starter for friends I haven’t seen in awhile is this: So…have you seen Inception? The asking of which sparks a convoluted debate about how much of the film we actually comprehended, perceived plot holes, the genius of Christopher Nolan and of course, dreams, reality, the unconscious and other metaphysical topics that sound embarrassingly pretentious in retrospect.
But I also ask the question of you, dear reader. If your answer is “no” we suggest watching Nolan’s breathtaking meditation on dreams immediately (how much longer can you nod knowingly when peers discuss totems, kicks and that ending?). If your answer is “yes” you’ll know that despite Nolan’s visual wizardry, the film’s sensory touchstone is actually an understated yet totally epic score from German composer Hans Zimmer who’s worked previously on Nolan’s Dark Knight and Batman Begins.
Below is a live video taken from the Hollywood premiere of Inception which featured a live performance of said score with help from Johnny Marr (The Smiths/Modest Mouse/The Cribs) and a perpetually spinning totem.
In other Inception soundtrack news, Youtube user camiam321 has called Zimmer’s originality into question after pointing out some striking sonic similarities between Inception’s main musical cue and Edith Piaf’s “Non, je ne regrette rien”. Kudos for noticing Youtube user camiam321 but we’ll have to deduct points for using the phrase “See what they did there?” in the video.
