'The Odyssey' is Christopher Nolan’s Crowning Achievement

It's always interesting to see what a filmmaker makes after winning Best Picture. You know, when that filmmaker is in the best position of their career to make their passion project. But it's doubly interesting with Christopher Nolan, who was already in a position of getting most everything he wants anyway even before winning an Oscar.¹

¹I suspect Nolan would disagree with this. And I'm sure he has his own tales of woe, compromising his artistic vision for monetary reasons. But, still, compared to most others, he's in been in a pretty good position for awhile.

After Titanic, James Cameron explored the ocean and didn't direct another movie for over a decade. After The Departed, Martin Scorsese shifted gears completely and made the psychological thriller Shutter Island, then the completely out of left field (at least for him) Hugo. After Argo, Ben Affleck basically leveraged this into being Batman.²

²Speaking of Batman, I think we are only a few years away from it being kind of shocking that Nolan, who has become such a singular director, made three Batman movies. It would be like remembering Brian De Palma did a trilogy of Beetle Bailey movies in the 1970s.

Nolan did not take a decade off. Nor did he remake Blue Thunder, which apparently was a rumor. (A rumor I liked.) He used the most capital he'll ever have to make an almost-three-hour cinematic version of Homer's The Odyssey, filmed on location, completely with IMAX cameras (I did see this in 70mm IMAX, which was quite an experience). There's no other filmmaker today who could request this and the answer would be, "Yes."

Look, I was skeptical and a bit worried before I saw the film. Then I remembered, "Oh, right, it's not my money," and started worrying again about things that directly affect me. But even so, I'd still have to sit through three hours of The Odyssey. And my relationship with Nolan³ movies is complicated. Take Oppenheimer, for example. It's so beautifully crafted, but for the life of me I don't know why it centers on J. Robert Oppenheimer potentially losing his security clearance. Then there's Nolan's fascination with time – used wonderfully in Intersteller, then with some diminishing returns in later films. (Though I do love Dunkirk despite this.)

³I have met Christopher Nolan once in person. It was at a Paramount holiday party the year Interstellar came out. The studio publicist grabbed me and said, "Hey, you should meet Chris," even though I did not want "to meet Chris" (only because talking to famous people at parties is not something I'm good at) and took a few of us over to "hang out with him." (This may or may not be this week’s paid subscriber story. I haven’t decided yet?)

Having said all that, The Odyssey is a marvel. I truly hate declaring something like this having just seen it, but I'm pretty sure it's my favorite Christopher Nolan movie...

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