Nolan's Odyssey

Here’s my review of Nolan’s Odyssey—without spoilers, but giving you the tone & intention to figure out whether the movie (which will be a big hit) is for you. I daresay some of my insights will surprise you & you won’t find them anywhere else: The Christian interpretation of Greek myth, for one example.

There’s a lot to say about the movie. A few opening thoughts:

1. It’s the most amazing spectacle in our entertainment this year, or more than a year.

2. Nolan has clearly thought about Homer & come up with an interpretation, not only a screenplay (trying to decide what counts in the story & how to put it together in one film means you have to think about the deeper issues & how to convey them).

3. His Odyssey is about the last “20” years of American life, every major social phenomenon it feels like, some are more obvious—from Global War on Terror to #metoo, BLM, trans.

4. His intention is to incite the scandals that have already erupted on social media, it’s marketing as much as awareness of our social drama, but he thinks there’s a way through it for those who see the throughline, which is his interpretation of what it means for Odysseus to prefer Penelope to the world. It’s his own version of what I call post-modern conservatism, going beyond the woke stuff but not believing society can go back to 2002 &c.