Hideo Kojima called "Odysee" magnificent and praised Christopher Nolan
People in the games world tend to listen when Hideo Kojima speaks about film. This time the Metal Gear auteur watched Christopher Nolan's new epic, Odysee, and his reaction read more like a personal note than a dry review.
I wasn’t just watching the screen — I felt like I was there the whole time, — he says about his viewing experience. — It was more than just watching a movie, I was a witness to it.
He opted for an IMAX showing, which for him brought back memories of going to the Cinerama as a kid and then returning home to a CRT set — a contrast that stuck with him (e.g., the scale and texture felt different). Kojima mentions that he already knew the tale from earlier versions, including the 1954 film with Kirk Douglas and several black-and-white adaptations, but this screening landed differently.
I already knew this story well, having grown up watching the 1954 version with Kirk Douglas and several black-and-white adaptations, but this was a completely different experience, — he writes. For me, it was an Odyssey, unlike anything I had ever experienced.
He singled out Nolan and longtime collaborator Hoyte van Hoytema for giving the film an oddly intimate quality; the way timelines are braided — a Nolan hallmark seen in Inception and Oppenheimer — made the epic feel less like myth and more like a human confrontation with time and memory.
Together these elements turn one of the world's most famous classic epic poems into a poignant, deep human drama, — Kojima says. — It was magnificent.