I rewatched it yesterday on DVD and since my first view lasts back 11 Months (German dubbed, in the theaters, by chance), I wasn't sure if it would remain as one of my favourites of 2007. The decision to put it onto my Top 13-List was suprising even to me - but I found myself still in touch with the film months after the viewing, still impressed and still thinking "Man, that one was extraordinary...that one was very, very, very interesting...", so it was a real temptation. But I wasn't sure... Now I am. It's not only a film about the obsessions an artistic view of life can bring but also a film about filmmaking itself and about being a filmmaker. Nolan certainly knew what the audience expected from this and he gave it to them with a very bitter smile. The narration seems twisted but it isn't - the final solution can only be a disappointment if seen from the pov of a viewer who expected confusing entertainment like "Memento". Nolan handles his own situation as an artist after making two very different and very engaging, contricting, successful (and imo very weak) films ("Memento" and "Batman begins") and he obviously tries to understand the two protagonists (Jackman and Bale are both marvellous) by reflecting his own development - a fascinating perspective which gets even more interesting as the film's metaphorical complex doesn't make a living out of this metalevel but also includes several psychological bits which are rare to find with such a certain weight on certain things - among others, this is one of the best films I've seen so far dealing - highly concentrated - with (male) stubbornness and its consequences that very often end up with a paradoxical self-alienation. 
Furthermore, the film is visually exciting. I'm a bit sad that it required a second viewing on DVD to notice that as I probably won't see this one again on the big screen. There are many things you could define as "stylized realism", so I'll keep any explanation. Some parts of the photography somehow reminded me of Harry Kmel, though it wasn't that stylized while the editing brought up Argento, Kubrick and Sirk in my mind (maybe just because I'm studying those three directors very intense at the moment).
I'm still suprised and stunned... when I first saw the trailer in Winter 2006, it unpleasantly reminded me of the @#%$ terrible "Van Helsing" (2004), not only because of Hugh Jackman's presence. I didn't want to see it at all then... 

Now I'm grateful and satisfied: 22 out of 25. 

By the way, I can't understand why so many people are saying that this is more Mainstream than Nolan's other films - the extreme sarcasm behind the - consciously - artificially bloated narration and its simple ending (I almost heard Nolan saying: "There you have it! Are you satisfied now?") seems like a clear disagree with the audience's trust in the director himself.