My TENET-ive Endorsement

The movie that broke Christopher Nolan's Peloton instructor

A few words on a movie that will hit theaters once again this weekend, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet.

The movie was in the news recently because Nolan’s Peloton instructor reflected a consensus opinion that the movie was wildly confusing. I’m not going to sit here and break out the timelines and go all “Tenet Ending Explained” on you. (For what it’s worth, the filmmaker did a recent video that might help contextualize the film’s intricate plotting.)

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And look, I would still rank Tenet in the bottom tier of Nolan films, personally…

…but I do think it’s worth seeing (or rewatching) and not just discarding as some kind of unfortunate blip from a filmmaker high on his own supply. I think there’s a lot in Tenet that’s worth contemplating, so much so that I decided to buy and read the screenplay in the hopes that I could better unlock what Nolan had in mind. Unsurprisingly, having the mental space to contemplate certain lines or story developments really helps it click into place.

Check the showtimes near you because it’s worth seeing big and loud, especially because the pandemic robbed so many of us from experiencing Nolan’s work as it was meant to be exhibited.

Tenet, 2020. © Warner Bros.

For those not on the paying list, I hope you’re curious enough to opt in for this and more updates each week! If now’s not the right time, I’ll guide you to some supplemental reading:

"The People Who Never Stopped Loving Tenet,” Tim Grierson’s fascinating oral history of the Day 1 Tenet stans

“‘Dunkirk’ And The Christopher Nolan Lie,” my most thorough analysis on the work of Christopher Nolan