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Starring: Willem Dafoe, Gene Bervoets, Eliza Stuyck, Andrew Blumenthal
Story: ★★★☆☆
Psychological thriller directed by Vasilis Katsoupis. Inside (2023) follows talented art thief Nemo (Willem Dafoe), who becomes trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist does not go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he has to use all his cunning and invention to survive.
Best Quotes
Nemo: When I was a kid, my teacher asked, what are the three things that I would save from my house if it were on fire. I answered, my sketchbook, my AC/DC album, and my cat, Groucho. I didn’t mention my parents, or my sister. Of course, most of the other kids did. Does that make me a bad person?
Nemo: My cat died. I lent that AC/DC album to a guy named Kojo. And I never saw it again. But the sketchbook I kept.
'Cats die. Music fades. But art is for keeps.' - Nemo (Inside) Click To Tweet
Number 3: [over radio] Open sesame in three, two, one.
Nemo: [over radio, after breaking into the apartment] I found the three other Schieles like clockwork, but no self-portrait.
Number 3: No self-portrait?
Nemo: Yeah, I’m in the master bedroom, and there’s another painting where it should be.
Number 3: That’s impossible.
Nemo: [over radio] Man, the self-portrait is not here.
Number 3: Where the f*** is it, then?
Nemo: How the f*** should I know? Maybe he took it with him to Kazakhstan.
Number 3: Of course he didn’t take it to Kazakh-f***ing-stan. There’s no way he took it on a business trip.
Nemo: [over radio] What do you want me to do?
Number 3: That piece was worth three million, man. Dammit. We’re out of time. Take what you got and go.
Nemo: [as the security system seals the apartment] It won’t open! Come in, Number Three! Come in!
Number 3: [over radio] I don’t know what to do, man. I’m sorry. You’re on your own.
Nemo: [after being locked up in the apartment] There’s some vodka. Party time.
Nemo: [to the painting of the trapped man] I’ve got the Pritzker Prize. What the f*** have you done?
'Opposition is true friendship.' - Nemo, from Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Inside) Click To Tweet
Nemo: F***ing guy has everything but a can opener.
Nemo: Good evening, everybody. Tonight we’re going to be preparing a quite simple, but quite delicious, pasta dish. We’re going to start out with some filtered water from our favorite source, the little vegetation area there. Okay. Now I’m going to the package of pasta. We’re going to take some of this fusilli pasta, pasta de semola di grano duro, and let that soak for about, I don’t know, twenty-four hours. Over here, we’ve already prepared this rigatoni, I guess it is, and we’re going to see how it tastes right now. Soft. Definitely, al dente. It’s not bad. It’s not bad.
Nemo: [singing to himself] This will pass. Give me the gas. Fall on your a**.
Nemo: [to the pigeon] Go to Tompkins Square Park, and look for a guy named Danny C. He’s usually near the basketball courts. Usually there in the late afternoon. Tell him that I’m stuck here. No one’s come. Do that for me.
Nemo: Nobody here but us pigeons. Right? Right?!
'We are puppets. And the fates, gods, pull our strings, determining our actions. Do we have free will, or are we just puppets in a show controlled by unseen hands?' - Owner (Inside) Click To Tweet
Nemo: [after finding the Schiele self-portrait in a hidden room] F***ing self-portrait.
Nemo: [calling out to the young housekeeper from the sealed apartment] Jasmine! Help me! Get me out of here! Help me!
Nemo: [hallucinating] This moment. All the time.
Nemo: [hallucinating] This moment. All will come after. After this moment, all will come.
'This is what we're put on this earth for, to comfort each other, and keep each other company, and pass the time.' - Nemo (Inside) Click To Tweet
Owner: [as Nemo is hallucinating he’s at an art gallery party] Challenging times we’re living through. If you’re keeping your head above water, kudos to you.
Nemo: I like a challenge.
Owner: What side of the divide are you on? Is no man an island, or every man an island?
Nemo: I’m an island. But ask me again after a few cocktails.
Owner: That is the spirit. That is the spirit.
Owner: [as Nemo continues to hallucinate being in an art gallery] The puppet, the marionette, long a symbol of the inevitability of destiny. We are puppets. And the fates, gods, pull our strings, determining our actions. Do we have free will, or are we just puppets in a show controlled by unseen hands?
Nemo: I’m maybe not the best joke teller in the world. But, you know, something to pass the time. You get it, right?
Nemo: I mean, it’s a Bulgarian joke actually. I learned it from a very beautiful woman. She had no idea that she was beautiful. She was very funny. I mean, that was her greatest charm. And she told me this joke, and she said, “I warn you. It’s a Bulgarian joke.” So this will be a measure of whether you have the Bulgarian sense of humor now. Clearly, you all don’t.
'Man has no Body distinct from his Soul. Energy is the only life, and is from the Body. Energy is Eternal Delight.' - Nemo, from Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Inside) Click To Tweet
Nemo: I mean, thank you for listening. You’re a good audience. You don’t heckle me. There’s no problems here. Helps pass the time. I mean, this is what we’re put on this earth for, to comfort each other, and keep each other company, and pass the time.
Man on Video: [as Nemo watches a video] Nothing happened between us.
Woman on Video: Maybe. But when we met, I had a feeling that life had taken over. I loved being in bed with you. I loved waking up next to you. And I knew you felt the same.
Nemo: This is just my way to contribute, you know. Cheers to all of you. Cheers big ears. If you didn’t like the joke, I’m sorry. But f*** you. I did the best I could, and if you didn’t like that, f*** you.
Nemo: I have no energy. I’m dying. I’m dying. I’m dying.
'There's no creation without destruction.' - Nemo (Inside) Click To Tweet
Nemo: [to the painting of the trapped man] I feel you, brother. I’m going to set you free.
Nemo: [reading from Marriage of Heaven and Hell] But the following contraries to these are true. One. Man has no Body distinct from his Soul. Two. Energy is the only life, and is from the Body. Three. Energy is Eternal Delight. One thought fills immensity. Energy is Eternal Delight.
Nemo: [writing on the wall] As a gesture of thanks for your hospitality, I’ve saved three things of yours from destruction. I lived in your place only a short time. For you, it was a home. For me, it was a cage. I’m sorry if I destroyed it, but maybe it needed to be destroyed. After all, there’s no creation without destruction.
[we see him before climb the scaffold, remove the skylight, and disappear]
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