Inside (2023 film)

Last updated

Inside
Inside poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byVasilis Katsoupis
Screenplay by Ben Hopkins
Story byVasilis Katsoupis
Produced by
  • Giorgos Karnavas
  • Marcos Kantis
  • Dries Phlypo
Starring
CinematographySteve Annis
Edited byLambis Haralambidis
Music byFrederik van de Moortel
Production
companies
  • Heretic
  • Schiwago Film
  • A Private View
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 20 February 2023 (2023-02-20)(Berlinale)
  • 10 March 2023 (2023-03-10)(Greece)
  • 15 March 2023 (2023-03-15)(Belgium)
  • 16 March 2023 (2023-03-16)(Germany)
  • 17 March 2023 (2023-03-17)(United States)
Running time
105 minutes [1]
Countries
  • United States
  • Belgium
  • Germany
  • Greece
LanguageEnglish
Box office$918,415 [2] [3]

Inside is a 2023 psychological thriller film written by Ben Hopkins and directed by Vasilis Katsoupis in his feature directorial debut. [4] The film follows an art thief (Willem Dafoe) who is trapped inside a luxury penthouse, slowly losing his grip on reality.

Contents

Inside had its world premiere at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on 20 February 2023. The film was released theatrically in Greece on 10 March 2023 by Tulip Entertainment, in Belgium on 15 March 2023 by Sony Pictures Belgium, and in Germany on 16 March 2023 by SquareOne Entertainment.

Plot

Nemo, an art thief, tells a story of his childhood, in which a teacher asked him to choose three things to save in a house fire. Rather than his family, Nemo selected his cat, an AC/DC record, and his sketchbook. He reflects that the cat died and he lent the album to an acquaintance who did not return it, but he still has the sketchbook, saying "art is for keeps".

In the present day, disguised as a handyman, Nemo breaks into the Manhattan high-rise penthouse of a wealthy art collector in order to steal three works by Egon Schiele, but is unable to find Schiele's self-portrait. His attempt to leave sets off the security system and seals the apartment, and his contacts abandon him; his attempts to escape prove futile. A broken thermostat renders the penthouse too hot and then too cold, and Nemo struggles with a lack of food and water, save for timed sprinklers in an indoor garden. Following Nemo's entry through bird netting over the apartment's patio, a pigeon becomes trapped, starves, and dies while Nemo watches.

As weeks pass, Nemo goes hungry and suffers injuries as a result of his escape attempts, which focus on constructing an enormous scaffold from furniture to reach a skylight. He makes gradual progress in disassembling the frame around the skylight with tools he constructs from furniture. He develops an obsession with a young housekeeper, dubbed "Jasmine", whom he watches via a security camera feed that plays on the apartment television. In maddening frustration, she is right outside the front door on more than one occasion, but she does not hear him banging and yelling for her to open it, because she is wearing earphones while running the vacuum.

Nemo discovers a hidden passage in a closet that leads to a room containing the Schiele self-portrait and a collation of The Marriage of Heaven and Hell . Desperate, Nemo eats fish from the art collector's aquarium and dog food, eventually suffering from tooth decay and intermittent hallucinations. While removing bolts from the skylight, he falls to the ground and breaks his leg. He constructs a splint, but his health and sanity continue to deteriorate along with the apartment. Over time, he studies the apartment's art, creates his own artwork, and makes intricate drawings on the walls.

Nemo sets off a smoke alarm in an attempt to get help, flooding the penthouse in the process but attracting no outside attention. He leaves the art collector a note written on the walls, reiterating the story from his childhood and apologising for breaking into and destroying his home, but stating that it may have been necessary as "there is no creation without destruction". Nemo concludes the apology by saying that he has saved three pieces of art.

The film ends with a still view of the enormous scaffolding and the now-open skylight. A shadow can be seen through the skylight, implying that Nemo finally escaped.

Cast

Production

The film was shot in chronological order, which director Vasilis Katsoupis likened to filming a documentary. [6]

Principal photography wrapped up on 1 June 2021, after seven weeks of filming at Cologne's MMC TV & Film Studios. [7]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on 20 February 2023. [1] [8] It was released theatrically in Greece on 10 March 2023 by Tulip Entertainment, [9] in Belgium on 15 March 2023 by Sony Pictures Belgium, [10] in Germany on 16 March 2023 by SquareOne Entertainment, [11] and in the United States on 17 March 2023 by Focus Features. [12] [13]

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 63% of 104 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10.The website's consensus reads: "Inside might be a one-note drama that verges on an endurance test, but it does have Willem Dafoe going for it, which is nice." [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egon Schiele</span> Austrian painter

Egon Leo Adolf Ludwig Schiele was an Austrian Expressionist painter. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and for the many self-portraits the artist produced, including nude self-portraits. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele's paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of Expressionism. Gustav Klimt, a figurative painter of the early 20th century, was a mentor to Schiele.

<i>Shadow of the Vampire</i> 2000 film by E. Elias Merhige

Shadow of the Vampire is a 2000 independent period vampire mystery film directed by E. Elias Merhige and written by Steven Katz. The film stars John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe. It is a fictionalized account of the making of the classic vampire film Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens, directed by F. W. Murnau, during which the film crew begin to have disturbing suspicions about their lead actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willem Dafoe</span> American actor (born 1955)

William James "Willem" Dafoe is an American actor. Known for his prolific career portraying diverse roles in both mainstream and arthouse films, he is the recipient of various accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actor as well as nominations for four Academy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and four Golden Globe Awards. He has frequently collaborated with filmmakers Paul Schrader, Abel Ferrara, Lars von Trier, Julian Schnabel, Wes Anderson, and Robert Eggers. Dafoe was a founding member of experimental theater company The Wooster Group.

<i>Finding Nemo</i> 2003 film by Andrew Stanton

Finding Nemo is a 2003 American animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was written by Stanton, Bob Peterson, and David Reynolds from a story by Stanton. The film stars the voices of Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould, Willem Dafoe, and Geoffrey Rush. It tells the story of an overprotective clownfish named Marlin (Brooks) who, along with a forgetful regal blue tang named Dory (DeGeneres), searches for his missing son Nemo (Gould). Along the way, Marlin learns to take risks and comes to terms with Nemo taking care of himself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julian Schnabel</span> American artist and filmmaker

Julian Schnabel is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings" — with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been a proponent of independent arthouse cinema. Schnabel directed Before Night Falls, which became Javier Bardem's breakthrough Academy Award-nominated role, and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which was nominated for four Academy Awards. For the latter, he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director, as well as receiving nominations for the Academy Award for Best Director and the César Award for Best Director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abel Ferrara</span> American film director

Abel Ferrara is an American filmmaker, known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best known movies include the New York-set, gritty crime thrillers The Driller Killer (1979), Ms .45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992) and The Funeral (1996), chronicling violent crime in urban settings with spiritual overtones.

<i>Light Sleeper</i> 1992 film by Paul Schrader

Light Sleeper is a 1992 American crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader and starring Willem Dafoe, Susan Sarandon, and Dana Delany. Set in New York City during a sanitation strike, the gritty neo-noir film stars Dafoe as a high-class drug dealer battling a midlife crisis before becoming embroiled in tragic events following the chance encounter with a former girlfriend. While under-performing at the box office, the film was regarded favorably by critics.

<i>White Sands</i> (film) 1992 American film by Roger Donaldson

White Sands is a 1992 American crime thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Willem Dafoe, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Samuel L. Jackson, and Mickey Rourke. Written by Daniel Pyne for Warner Bros., the film is about a U.S. southwestern small-town sheriff who finds a body in the desert with a suitcase and $500,000. He impersonates the man and stumbles into an FBI investigation.

<i>Anamorph</i> (film) 2007 American film

Anamorph is a 2007 independent psychological thriller film directed by Henry S. Miller and starring Willem Dafoe. Dafoe plays a seasoned detective named Stan Aubray, who notices that a case he has been assigned to bears a striking similarity to a previous case of his. The film is based on the concept of anamorphosis, a painting technique that manipulates the laws of perspective to create two competing images on a single canvas.

Identical twin brothers Peter Spierig and Michael Spierig, known collectively as the Spierig Brothers, are German-Australian film directors, producers, and screenwriters. They are best known for their 2014 sci-fi thriller, Predestination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tye Sheridan</span> American actor (born 1996)

Tye Kayle Sheridan is an American actor. He is known for playing the young Scott Summers / Cyclops in the X-Men film series (2016–2019) and for his starring role in the science fiction film Ready Player One (2018).

<i>What Happened to Monday</i> 2017 dystopian science-fiction action-thriller film directed by Tommy Wirkola

What Happened to Monday is a 2017 dystopian science-fiction action thriller film directed by Tommy Wirkola and written by Max Botkin and Kerry Williamson. The film stars Noomi Rapace, Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Eggers</span> American film director and screenwriter

Robert Houston Eggers is an American filmmaker and production designer. He is best known for writing and directing the historical horror films The Witch (2015) and The Lighthouse (2019), as well as directing and co-writing the historical fiction epic film The Northman (2022). His films are noted for their folkloric and mythological elements, as well as his thorough efforts to ensure historical authenticity.

<i>Dog Eat Dog</i> (2016 film) 2016 American film

Dog Eat Dog is a 2016 American action thriller film directed by Paul Schrader with a screenplay by Matthew Wilder, based on Edward Bunker's 1995 novel of the same name. The film stars Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe.

<i>The Last Thing He Wanted</i> (film) 2020 film

The Last Thing He Wanted is a 2020 political thriller film directed by Dee Rees, based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Joan Didion, from a screenplay by Rees and Marco Villalobos. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, Rosie Perez, Edi Gathegi, Mel Rodriguez, Toby Jones, and Willem Dafoe.

<i>The Lighthouse</i> (2019 film) 2019 psychological horror-comedy film by Robert Eggers

The Lighthouse is a 2019 film directed and produced by Robert Eggers, from a screenplay he wrote with his brother Max Eggers. It stars Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as nineteenth-century lighthouse keepers in turmoil after being marooned at a remote New England outpost by a wild storm. The film has defied categorization in media, and interpretations of it range among horror film, psychological thriller, or character study, among others.

<i>At Eternitys Gate</i> (film) 2018 film

At Eternity's Gate is a 2018 biographical drama film about the final years of painter Vincent van Gogh's life. The film dramatizes the controversial theory put forward by van Gogh biographers Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, in which they speculate that van Gogh's death was caused by manslaughter rather than suicide.

<i>Twelve Minutes</i> 2021 video game

Twelve Minutes is an adventure game developed by Luís António and published by Annapurna Interactive. It was originally released on August 19, 2021 for Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, with versions for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 released on December 7, 2021. A version for iOS and Android mobile devices was published by Netflix on December 13, 2022.

<i>Siberia</i> (2020 film) 2020 film

Siberia is a 2020 psychological thriller film directed by Abel Ferrara. It was selected to compete for the Golden Bear in the main competition section at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, where it premiered on 24 February 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norman Osborn (Sam Raimi film series)</span> Sam Raimis Spider-Man film series and Marvel Cinematic Universe character

Norman Virgil Osborn is a character portrayed by Willem Dafoe in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man film trilogy and later the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) media franchise. Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, Osborn first appeared in Spider-Man (2002) as a scientist and the CEO of Oscorp who tests an unstable performance-enhancing serum on himself, developing superhuman strength and a crazed alternate personality known as the Green Goblin. He uses advanced Oscorp armor and equipment to terrorize New York City and battle Spider-Man, but ultimately dies when he is impaled by his own glider. A hallucination of Osborn haunts his son Harry in Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Inside". Berlin International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 23 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  2. ↑ "Inside (2023)". Box Office Mojo . Retrieved 22 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Inside (2023)". The Numbers . Retrieved 31 March 2023.
  4. ↑ Squires, John (3 October 2022). "'Inside – Psychological Thriller Starring Willem Dafoe Acquired by Focus Features". Bloody Disgusting . Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  5. ↑ McNab, Geoffrey (21 February 2020). "Heretic talks up 'Inside', Berlin titles and 'Daughters' (exclusive)" . Screen Daily . Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  6. ↑ JimmyO (17 March 2023). "Interview: Willem Dafoe and Vasilis Katsoupis talk Inside". JoBlo. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
  7. ↑ Mitchell, Wendy (4 June 2021). "Heretic wraps 'Inside' starring Willem Dafoe; Bankside boards sales (exclusive)" . Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  8. ↑ Tartaglione, Nancy (15 December 2022). "Berlin Film Festival Unveils First Panorama Titles Featuring Sydney Sweeney, Willem Dafoe, Alicia Silverstone". Deadline Hollywood . Archived from the original on 15 December 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  9. ↑ "Inside (2023)". Tulip Entertainment. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Zeevonk en Inside naar Berlinale!". Cinevox (in Dutch). 15 December 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  11. ↑ "Aufsehenerregende Weltpremiere im Panorama der Berlinale – Inside mit Willem Dafoe" (in German). SquareOne Entertainment. 21 February 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  12. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (3 October 2022). "Focus Features Acquires Willem Dafoe Thriller 'Inside', Sets Q1 2023 Release". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 17 November 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  13. ↑ O'Rourke, Ryan (4 October 2022). "Willem Dafoe Thriller 'Inside' Lands March 2023 Release Date". Collider . Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 4 October 2022.
  14. ↑ "Inside". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved 7 May 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.