Summary

The article discusses the challenging yet intriguing experience of watching Christopher Nolan's film "Oppenheimer" as someone who finds the complex dialogue and non-linear narrative difficult to follow, but appreciates the film's artistic depth and impact.

Abstract

The author shares a personal account of watching "Oppenheimer," directed by Christopher Nolan, and reflects on the intellectual demands of Nolan's films. Despite the difficulty in understanding the dense scientific dialogue and the non-linear storytelling, the author finds enjoyment in the cinematic experience, particularly noting the film's sound design and score by Ludwig Göransson. The article humorously suggests that watching such complex films might be best done while single, as it could enhance one's social status as a "cool kid." The author also comments on Nolan's use of black-and-white sequences to convey objectivity, contrasting with the subjective color scenes. Overall, the film left the author feeling overwhelmed yet appreciative of the sensory and emotional power of Nolan's portrayal of the atomic age.

Opinions

The author views Nolan's films, including "Oppenheimer," as challenging for those with a non-native English background or for those who prefer straightforward narratives.
Nolan's approach to filmmaking is seen as intentional in creating complex narratives that resist simple explanations or summaries in short videos.
Watching Nolan's movies in a theater is perceived as an activity best enjoyed by singles, as it may not be conducive to social interaction or romantic dates.
The author expresses a sense of inadequacy in keeping up with the film's intellectual demands, humorously suggesting the need for a brain upgrade.
The use of black-and-white sequences in "Oppenheimer" is interpreted as a storytelling device to represent objectivity, adding another layer of complexity to the film.
Despite the challenges, the author acknowledges the emotional and sensory impact of the film, particularly praising the musical score for its ability to convey the film's themes and dialogue.
The article implies that the experience of watching "Oppenheimer" is akin to witnessing a simulated version of the atomic bomb's power, leaving the audience with a profound sense of the weapon's destructive capacity.

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Watching Oppenheimer as A Dummy

I sacrificed my well-being to look like a cool kid by watching Oppenheimer on Fake IMAX

What is “j” even stand for? Photo: Universal Picture on “Opening Look”.

Busta Ryhmes's rap part on the Chris Brown “Look at Me Now” song was played in my head while I watched Oppenheimer with its non-stop massive chunk dialogue. A smart Western people conversation that would make my non-native English brain explode. If some people in the theater happened to smell something burning, it was my asymmetrical brain screaming for help.

This is what Nolan always does. He obsesses with making a movie about genius folks so dummies would use the Google search engine in a proper manner. I mean dummies refuse to read and they like to find an informative topic if it is only a 15-second video.

But, Nolan is clever enough to spread abundant traps in his craft product that nobody is able to really explain “what is this movie about” in 15 seconds.

Take Tenet (2020), the top-ranked on Nolan’s movie list in my opinion. Even after thousands of 15-second videos, I am still confused about the whole meaning of what is this movie really about. If I plan to start watching Tenet for the ninth time (which I did) the sensation would be likely the same as the first experience I had watching the movie. It’s just not dummies-friendly.

But, watching Oppenheimer as a dummy was fun, especially if you were also single. You need to be single to watch Nolan’s movie in the theater. It is the only way to make you cooler. For Oppenheimer, you don’t want to end up being FAQ services. As the movie introduces hard pronunciation names like Bainbridge, Heisenberg, Neddermeyer, Chevalier, and Kistiakowsky in every second frame. My non-native tongue was almost dislocated, not to mention the core of Oppenheimer's dialogue, physicist. How could I explain to the plus-one next to me about fission and fusion? Should I tell him about not all Nolan fans have a brain?

Someone who sat next to me also happened to be single. Unfortunately, I couldn’t talk with him because he was looking like a philosophy student in the first semester of college period. And someone on my left was…probably a FOMO.

They perpetually checked the time on their mobile phone and were brave enough to curl their bare legs up on the chair. It was not caramel popcorn I smell during the show, but a foot odor filling my head as I tried hard to analyze the chronological storyline using Cillian Murphy’s haircut.

But this principle is not applied if you watch Romance genre movies. You would only look pathetic and miserable. People will know you’re single because all the corner seats would be booked by a couple who basically do not really care about the plot.

Nolan could make his lack-of-brain fan’s life easier by simply aligning the movie with a linear structure but instead, he tried to multi-layer all the confusion by creating black-and-white sequences as an objective token.

He said:

“The film is objective and subjective. The color scenes are subjective; the black-and-white scenes are objective. I wrote the color scenes from the first person. So for an actor reading that, in some ways, I think it’d be quite daunting.”

Professor Nolan explained with the most humble language he could try, and I must apologize for my insufferable 2 GB RAM brain that pretty much need an upgrade. Please let me know if you have a place recommendation to buy a new pair of brains. You will certainly earn the tips as my thankful gesture.

The only daunting sensation was how the black-and-white screening time was I presume dominant with Robert Downey Jr., Ph.D. character, Lewis Strauss (pronounce “Straw”), a vindictive man who got destroyed by Oppenheimer bullying victim, Rami Malek. My assumption is Nolan tried to pitch Marvel an idea of how Tony Stark's resurrection should be.

Anyway, apart from not having proportional brain development, my second brain, a particularly sentimental Gemini trait couldn’t help but sob, because Ludwig Göransson's score is awe-inspiring. The music itself frankly assists my brain to grasp every mass of geniuses' rap dialogue in a way to comfort me, to forget what the movie is about.

Don’t try to understand it. Feel it — Nolan said through Barbara’s character in Tenet.

For disclosure, Oppenheimer might be a biopic genre, but it’s not the character trope that was left on my palate as I walked away from the theater at almost midnight, feeling discombobulated.

Nolan gave a replica of the atomic bomb using 12,000 watts IMAX speakers. Perhaps, it was not even close to say a replica. I think any politician who has the power to command the launch of an atomic weapon should go to IMAX to feel a tiny sensation of the real megaton nuke.

I might start to reconsider whether they are human or lizard, if someone is barely unable to flinch, as the one-minute ending has enough to make me witness death.

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