Inside (2023) [Blu-ray review]

In his tense feature directorial debut Inside, Vasilis Katsoupis traps audiences in a claustrophobic struggle for survival alongside a cunning but increasingly unhinged anti-hero. As art thief Nemo faces deadly peril after a penthouse heist gone wrong, actor Willem Dafoe grippingly portrays his physical and mental disintegration. Now finally out on Blu-ray, Inside aims to be more than a flashy thriller: it’s a harrowing character study interrogating the costs of obsessed perfectionism.

Tracking Nemo’s harrowing ordeal over its lean 100-minute runtime, Inside wrings suspense from basic survival stakes. But Dafoe and Katsoupis have greater ambitions, probing the mania lurking within Nemo’s methodical criminal mastermind. His facade of urbane sophistication crumbles as he descends into savagery, pushed to dehumanizing extremes. Inside transforms into a sickening, at times surreal critique of all-consuming ambition and the darkness thriving inside Nemo’s warped ideals of artistic purity.

Inside is a Star Vehicle Tailor-Made For Dafoe’s Intensity

Known for channeling obsessive, frequently unbalanced characters, Dafoe almost seems destined to play Nemo after sharpening his unsettling screen presence across four decades in films like Wild at Heart and The Lighthouse. He’s mesmerizing here as a man desperately clinging to illusions of control, layering in telling details like labored breathing, muttered feverish rants, and panicked, darting eyes.

In his stiller moments, Dafoe hauntingly conveys Nemo’s isolation and fracturing identity, as this urbane figure devolves into a feral survivalist. Brutal sequences of Nemo consuming fish whole and splinting his own leg emphasize Dafoe’s total bodily commitment. Oscar voters should pay notice, as he delivers a masterclass in physical acting.

Immersed In Madness

Shooting within a single claustrophobic apartment set, cinematographer Timon Koulmasis lenses Inside like a coldly observational nature documentary trailing a rabid animal in captivity. Stark, plain visuals avoid sensationalism, while amplifying Nemo’s nightmarish headspace.

Katsoupis ratchets up tension through precise sound design and editing, allowing Dafoe’s primal wheezes and murmurs to echo. Purposeful use of offscreen space evokes threats lurking just outside Nemo’s cell, like the housekeeper perpetually walking just out of reach. Inside’s clinical style keeps the focus on Nemo’s psychological disintegration as his circumstances grow more dire and depraved.

Sparing use of flashbacks provide poetic counterpoints to Nemo’s current brutality, highlighting his corrupted ideals of artistic purity. Inside ultimately plays like the darkest possible portrait of a perfectionist unable to compromise his vision.

An Impressive Debut For A Rising Auteur

With Inside, Katsoupis proves his directing chops by wringing slow-burn intensity from a story reliant on one actor in a single location. He announced himself as a bold new voice with a gift for tactile, psychologically immersive directing. Burnham’s twisted anti-hero should only grow more resonant and universally recognizable in the years to come.

By melding arthouse character study with horror visuals and themes, Inside belongs to a boundary-pushing wave of elevated genre films like The Whale, Lamb and The Lighthouse. Now available on Blu-ray after wowing festivals, Inside deserves ranking beside recent triumphs marrying artful filmmaking with mainstream hooks. Anchored by Dafoe’s knockout lead turn, Katsoupis’ debut stands apart for its willingness to plunge audiences into the darkest corners of a disintegrating mind.

Inside comes to Blu-ray with a rather impressive release

Inside comes to Blu-ray with deleted scenes as the only special feature. The A/V Quality is pretty sharp for a recent release that primarily takes place in a fixed location. I noticed a minor amount of digital noise at imperfect times. In fact, look at the screenshot above and see for yourself.

I’m pretty forgiving on a lot of transfers unless it’s super egregious. But, watching it in the AV Theater, I kept noticing how many times in the film that we got noise when artificial light hit the darker toned backgrounds.

Still, the DTS-HD 5.1 master audio track made the most out of the sound staging. If you dig character driven dramas, then go ahead and give Inside a shot.

Inside is now available!