"Nemo" enters a penthouse to steal paintings (the big prize is seemingly missing) but is trapped by a "malfunction" after inputting the code to exit.
So begins his escape attempts, followed quickly by simply surviving inside an impenetrable (from the inside, in this case) dwindling-supplies fortress (his co-hort having abandoned him, and the owner overseas for months.)
As days stretch on, "Nemo" reflects on his fondness for sketching, his predicament; he begins turning his prison into a messy art installment all its own, right down to a "furniture sculpture" unwittingly created as he tries to reach an overhead skylight.
"Nemo" also keeps tabs on the going-ons inside the building, as outside security cameras are piped to the flatscreen TV. He tries in vain to get the attention of a young cleaner who takes occasional breaks outside the thick door, oblivious to his presence.
"Nemo" discovers hidden secrets about the huge penthouse as he forages for food, tools, appropriate clothes (the malfunctioning HVAC going from hot to cold before stabilizing) but nothing to assist him in escaping. How long can he last, will he escape, be discovered (and if so, dead or alive?)
Inside is a film I want to like more than I did. Dafoe's committed performance helps; there are scenes that show some thought was put into his escape attempts (trying to slide a note under the front door, etc.) and his ingenuity was the best aspect, for me.
But even at 105 minutes, Inside feels tedious, repetitive. We have little idea how long "Nemo" is trapped, why no alarms are raised at the front desk despite the initial alarms blaring, or later as "Nemo" activates the fire sprinklers (putting 1" water on the penthouse floors.)
"Nemo's" mental state deteriorates rather quickly, seemingly, which adds to the confusion as to how long his entrapment lasts. We go from one season to the next, apparently.
But one moment he's quite depressed, the next fashioning safety glasses to continue on that skylight dismantling. Like the randomness of what operates and what doesn't inside the apartment, so to goes "Nemo's" mental state after awhile.
Finally, the dreams he experiences are head-scratching as to whether they're hallucinations, or prior events recalled; they don't add much explanation as to his motivations or about the owner of the artwork.
Inside will appeal to Dafoe fans, to patient viewers, to those familiar w/ survival tale films like "Limbo" or "All is Lost." But like the former, the ending here is quite ambiguous.
And if there is commentary about wealth, privilege, modern art etc. Threaded into Inside that I was meant to "dig," it went over my head. Would prefer more time was spent on "Nemo" working on an exit, at a brisker pace than this film plods along at.
