Tenet

Movie: Tenet
Nominated for: Visual Effects, Production Design
How I watched: VOD
When I fell asleep: You are sunk if you do!
When it had me: Plot anxiety - is that a thing?
When it lost me: I mean, yeah.
What I have to say: 

Tenet! Have you been warned? I had been warned that this was a mind maze from which you might never emerge. Christopher Nolan has one very unique brain and I cannot believe the sheer audacity it takes to try and tell a story like this.

I'm not going to try to tell you what it's about. You should go in cold and fight your way through it. It's an action adventure about saving the world from a threat that is difficult to grasp at first; that's all you need to start. Here's how we managed to get through:

1. We were warned.

2. We did not drink to excess before watching. You need your wits about you, people!

3. Watch with friends or family so you can help each other along.

4. Think of it as advanced puzzling. Like an Escape Room Movie. That way you get kind of invested in the challenge and it becomes fun to work on.

5. Take breaks. The movie is 2.5 hours of dense espionage, pseudo science and prolonged moments of WTH? Stop for snacks or to take a breath and check in with your team. This movie would have been way harder for me to comprehend in a movie theatre.

6. Regroup! As I said, check in with each other. At least three times we had to stop to go over what we understood to be happening, where we thought it might be headed and to exchange notes on the clues that were being dropped.

7. Along those lines, you might keep paper and pencil handy. Viviana literally took notes and discovered a really cool tidbit along the way!

8. Let yourself come down slowly after you finish. Don't try to rush off to your next thing. Allow time to stare off into space whispering, "Wait, what?" softly to yourself. Post-movie discussions might help to straighten out the kinks in your mind, but go easy. I don't think you want to delve too deeply into the movie's logic. Just seek to grasp the basics and then settle your thoughts down. 

I'm going to go ahead and say it. I think this film might be over-complicated. We enjoyed puzzling through it and I am so glad that Nolan is here to challenge visual story telling like this. I would rather this film be made and maybe miss the mark a bit, then not be attempted at all. I think more often, people are looking for a passive kind of story absorption and I think especially in 2020, no one quite had the energy to be the audience this film required. 

Also? We really liked the music and were disappointed it didn't get a nomination.