Berlin review ‘Inside’: Willem Dafoe gives a tour de force performance in an art film about art and survival

Willem Dafoe gets a dream role Within, a combination of art film in more ways than one, psychological thriller, heist film and survival story all rolled into one, in which Dafoe’s Nemo alone is the center of attention.

The Focus Features release, which has its world premiere today at the Berlin Film Festival, is the creative and narrative feature debut of Greek director Vasilis Katsoupis, whose only previous film was a documentary. My friend Larry Gus. Here, with the help of screenwriter Ben Hopkins, he takes a daring leap forward by creating a heart-wrenching drama about an art thief trapped in a glass cage, in this case a luxury apartment in New York City, which if we didn’t know better, can happen. Billing itself as an art gallery, the walls and floors are lined with signature artworks, from paintings to sculptures, videos to installations and more. It is a treasure trove for Nemo, through the high-tech residence made largely of glass and gray cement, a cold air of high-class living, but now empty and a prime destination for Nemo and those we hear from him who instruct them which parts to collect and take with them to use.

What seems like a fairly simple task for this thief becomes a struggle for survival when a mechanical malfunction traps him in the doors, his accomplices clinging to him with no sign of escape, or, as he discovers, not even possible. Of course he panics, tries everything at first, knocks on doors, calls for help, even checks the surveillance camera footage for signs of life outside. This includes a cleaning lady, a security guard, but no way to get their attention. It has become a closed fortress for Nemo as he finds the real truth about his needs, his will to survive and more, all tied to the art that is the only thing to hold on to in a surreal world that is busy is to become weeks and weeks to months. We see how his desperate actions begin to turn this rich environment into a disaster area, almost like an uninhabited island of wealth from which there is no exit. His own will to live leads to the creation of a furniture tower that becomes his own work of art or path to freedom (??).

It’s the kind of movie that’s hard to describe because it’s just a one-man show, a man in unwanted and extraordinary circumstances in a place where, on the surface, many people would very much like to live in themselves. It’s a world defined by art, and the apartment is as much a character in it as Nemo. We can even understand the personality of the unknown and invisible person who “lives” there through his large art collection. But it was all seen through the eyes of a man who tried to take it and now can’t get away.

This would be a great role for any actor, but Dafoe seems right on so many levels, taking us into a fight for his life in a strange environment that puts him in a kind of twilight zone. It’s also a low-dialogue role, played mostly in silence, along with moments when he talks to himself. It’s a tour de force, and Dafoe is more than up to the task in a strange kind of companion piece to his Oscar-nominated role as Vincent van Gogh at the gate of eternity another film in which art plays a leading role along with the actor himself.

Katsoupis makes it all visual by taking what is essentially an esoteric idea and turning it into a psychological thriller about survival, an art film about art and its importance in our lives. The cinematography captures the chilly confines of the fall he suffered and the work of production designer Thorsten Sabel takes center stage, as does the actual art curation here by Leonardo Bigazzi, much of which was specifically commissioned for the film.

Producers are Giorgos Karnavas, Mancos Kantis and Dries Phlypo.