204. Tenet (2020) | We Try Really, Really Hard To Understand Christopher Nolan's Most Confusing Movie | Behind the Scenes of Tenet | Film Analysis
1-Week Rental | Behind the Scenes Film AnalysisShow Notes
Six years later, it's interesting to look back at the summer of 2020 and remember that Christopher Nolan's Tenet was intended to save the movie industry in the midst of its worst crisis ever, the COVID-19 pandemic. Nolan was locked in a battle with Warner Brothers over its desire to debut his new film on its recently launched streaming service, HBO Max. Nolan insisted it open in movie theaters. But when would that be allowed to happen? Turns out, it opened in a lot of places, including America, and ended up making $365 million worldwide, which is an incredible feat. But how would it have played in a normal summer? Would it have been the same kind of blockbuster as Inception, Interstellar, and The Odyssey? This is a very, very difficult and challenging movie, for all its popcorn picture trappings. And we are still trying to figure out what exactly is going on with it and how we feel about it. Still, you have to be grateful when movies like Tenet get made, and at such a huge level.
Watch this Tenet podcast in full on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OnmbkyP3_Tc Get more 1-Week Rental on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1weekrental Next episode (Aug. 21, 2026): Oppenheimer (2023)!
The Summer of Nolan is our summer 2026 miniseries covering the movie career of Christopher Nolan through nine movies on the main feed (plus additional episodes on the Patreon!), presented in chronological order, starting with Memento and going through Oppenheimer. And don't be surprised if our old pal Odysseus drops by to tell us about his long journey home to his wife.
Time stamps: 00:01:41 — Opening thoughts on Tenet 00:18:35 — History segment: The Sator Squares; backwards filmmaking; Christopher Nolan's obsession with nuclear war, Oppenheimer, and making a backwards movie; casting John David Washington as the Protagonist; Tenet gets wrapped up in a quest to save cinema during COVID-19 00:59:40 — Movie discussion + Tenet film analysis 02:45:15 — Star ratings + final review of Tenet
TENET (2020) was written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Starring John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Kenneth Branagh, Himesh Patel, Dimple Kapadia, Clémence Poésy, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Fiona Dourif, Martin Donovan, and Sir Michael Caine as Sir Michael Crosby.
Sources: "The Nolan Variations: The Movies, Mysteries, and Marvels of Christopher Nolan" by Tom Shone (2020) - https://amzn.to/4yiNtw0 "How Tenet was inspired by palindromes, the memes of the ancient world" by Sam Leith | The Telegraph (2020) - https://bit.ly/4fSFH4V "Tenet is Dazzling, Deft, and Devoid of Feeling" by Anthony Lane | The New Yorker (2020) - https://bit.ly/4bEIdZZ "'The biggest film I've done': Christopher Nolan on the secret world of Tenet" by Garry Maddox | The Sydney Morning Herald (2020) - https://bit.ly/4xU5nnZ "Christopher Nolan leads industry fury over Warner Bros' streaming move" by Andrew Pulver | The Guardian (2020) - https://bit.ly/3S6DlWN "'Tenet' Review: Christopher Nolan's Long-Anticipated Time Caper Is a Humorless Disappointment" by Mike McCahill | IndieWire (2020) - https://bit.ly/4i2ZRKM
Transcript: https://1weekrentalpod.com/2026/08/tenet/#transcript Artwork by Laci Roth. Matt has two monthly spin-off podcasts! PodJob: A James Bond Podcast on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/4jRL2K1), Spotify (https://bit.ly/4a8jM6E), and YouTube (https://youtube.com/@podjob007). The Sign Post Up Ahead: A Twilight Zone Recap Podcast on Apple Podcast (https://bit.ly/4vtO6jG), Spotify (https://bit.ly/4w1qDat), and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@TheSignPostUpAhead).
Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).
Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: "Summer of Nolan" - https://youtube.com/shorts/CAIzthDLrT8 "Winston-Salem" - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM "Snake Drama" - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg "The
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