The Prestige
Nov. 7th, 2006 12:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tealinOkay, so (I have to start each review like that; it's like revving the motor): Saw The Prestige. This is one of the few movies this year I've actually been looking forward to, if only because of the director's visual style is perfectly compatible with the Bartimaeus books, judging by the trailer. It's a silly thing to see a movie for, but I'll take what I can get, and the visual side of moviemaking is my business.
I've tried to keep it spoiler-free, but there are small ones in the last paragraph, so if you haven't seen it but plan to, do not read it if you want to live!
To start off, a brief synopsis, which I hope won't spoil anything for anyone: The movie opens with Borden, a magician, witnessing the death of Angier, another magician, in a magic trick gone horribly wrong. Borden is charged with Angier's murder, and the case looks like a cakewalk for the prosecution. To understand why, we begin a lengthy process of flashbacks which I hope I can relate in enough order to make sense, because they do jump around rather a lot. We start off in (I think) 1899, in London. A famous magician has two assistants, Angier and Borden. One night Borden makes a mistake that has horrible repurcussions for Angier, which sparks off a life of retribution, one-upmanship, and sabotage as each of them pursue their individual careers. This sees Borden (who was always the superior engineer of trickery) devise a stunt that Angier (the superior showman) goes all the way to Colorado Springs and the lab of Nikolas Tesla to replicate, then return to London for the Big Showdown.
The story is well-constructed and involving, but what really sets it apart is how it is told. We jump around in time in a manner that is, at times, a little confusing, but all the pieces are perfectly arranged so as to reveal plot points as gradually as possible and engineer the maximum build in tension to the climax. Forgive me for sounding a little bipolar, but while I can appreciate the genius with which the story is constructed, and it all made enough sense while watching it that I didn't feel lost, there are some things that I only just figured out today (having seen the film on Saturday) and I'm sure more will drop into place over time. There's a lot of passing little bits of paper that contain crucial information, in both the flashbacks and the 'present,' and a lot of magic shows in a lot of similar-looking theatres. I'm not terribly good at cause and effect; despite how much I loved it, it took countless rewatchings of Master and Commander before I felt confident in recalling what happened when, so perhaps I'm just singularly disadvantaged when it comes to non- or semi-linear storytelling. I repeat, though, I didn't feel lost while watching it, but it does take concentration. This is not a movie you can talk through or go see when you're mentally exhausted because if you get off track, it could be very hard to get back on again. If you're used to watching romantic comedies or action movies with brief bursts of plot separated by lengthy episodes of 'action relief' (coughcoughPiratescough ahem), it'll be a pretty strenuous workout. But if you're up for it, it's good. I love it when a movie stays in my head, eating away at my brain for days after I see it, and this is definitely one of those. It brings to mind a word![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bananabasket and I came up with in reference to the Snicket backstory: funfusing. You're confused, you're frustrated, and your brain turns circles on itself saying "If ____, then ____, but if that's the case then ____ can't ____! Unless..." but it's SO FUN! If that's your idea of a good time, anyway.
Visually, it was excellent – helped, of course, by being set in my favourite time period – everyone and everything felt very real and interesting. The effects were seamless enough that you didn't even really see them, which is exactly how effects should be. The magic tricks look like magic tricks, not an exlplosion of pyrotechnics and computer fakery but subtle enough to be completely convincing as masterful stagecraft. The 'real magic,' then, when it does happen, is a little flashier, but still understated enough to preserve that sense of realism and not jar the audience into dropping their suspension of disbelief. (It reminded me a bit of the Philadelphia Experiment so, by drawing a tenuous connection to something outside the immediate story, was that little bit more credible.)
The casting was good as well. Of course the two leads were going to be played by A-list hotties, to draw in the audience, but they picked A-list hotties with character, not randomly selected off a list of square-faced intense-browed broad-shouldered crewcut American Dreams – I could actually tell them apart, which is more than I can say for most people in that category. Not only do they look like characters, but they're both really really good actors as well, who really seem to enjoy what they're doing. And it wasn't as if they were the only good actors in it, either, because the supporting cast was every bit as convincing as they were, not just thrown in to be pretty and give the stars their cues. Of particular note is Andy Serkis. The character he plays could easily have been your standard Mr Filler/Exposition but he made him a character, just as real and dimensional as any of the leads. This is probably my favourite thing I've seen him do ... Admittedly, I haven't actually seen him much, and the characters he's played haven't exactly been textbook cases of subtlety, but it was amazing to see such a rich performance for such a marginal character, proving that there are no small parts, just small actors – or, in this case, a really, really BIG one. (Maybe he should play Lupin in HP#5, heh heh.)
* SPOILER * SPOILER * SPOILER *
Now what everyone is really wondering: what does Christian Bale have to do with Jacques Snicket? Everything, Mr LiveJournal ... everything, dear reader ... everything.* Well, for a while I've been thinking Mr Bale would be the perfect person to play Jacques Snicket should The Vile Village ever get made into a movie. Jacques' part is very small; his purpose is basically to be condemned to death by a kangaroo court in a stunt orchestrated by his enemies. When we first really meet Bale's character, he's in chains in a courtroom, framed by his enemy, seemingly invitably condemned to death. Add to this the multiple schisms (between the two magicians, between the magicians and their assistants, between Thomas Edison and Nikolas Tesla [the AC/DC war has historical veracity]), the layers of dark secrets, the codes, the disguises, the theatres, the orphan, the siblings, the opulent but mysteriously underpatronised hotel, the funfusion, the secret mountain lab that gets destroyed by fire ... quite a Snickety brew you've got going there.
*okay, not actually everything, but my sister's love was hanging on putting that in and I can't resist quoting the Snicket Interview.
* END SPOILER *
I've tried to keep it spoiler-free, but there are small ones in the last paragraph, so if you haven't seen it but plan to, do not read it if you want to live!
To start off, a brief synopsis, which I hope won't spoil anything for anyone: The movie opens with Borden, a magician, witnessing the death of Angier, another magician, in a magic trick gone horribly wrong. Borden is charged with Angier's murder, and the case looks like a cakewalk for the prosecution. To understand why, we begin a lengthy process of flashbacks which I hope I can relate in enough order to make sense, because they do jump around rather a lot. We start off in (I think) 1899, in London. A famous magician has two assistants, Angier and Borden. One night Borden makes a mistake that has horrible repurcussions for Angier, which sparks off a life of retribution, one-upmanship, and sabotage as each of them pursue their individual careers. This sees Borden (who was always the superior engineer of trickery) devise a stunt that Angier (the superior showman) goes all the way to Colorado Springs and the lab of Nikolas Tesla to replicate, then return to London for the Big Showdown.
The story is well-constructed and involving, but what really sets it apart is how it is told. We jump around in time in a manner that is, at times, a little confusing, but all the pieces are perfectly arranged so as to reveal plot points as gradually as possible and engineer the maximum build in tension to the climax. Forgive me for sounding a little bipolar, but while I can appreciate the genius with which the story is constructed, and it all made enough sense while watching it that I didn't feel lost, there are some things that I only just figured out today (having seen the film on Saturday) and I'm sure more will drop into place over time. There's a lot of passing little bits of paper that contain crucial information, in both the flashbacks and the 'present,' and a lot of magic shows in a lot of similar-looking theatres. I'm not terribly good at cause and effect; despite how much I loved it, it took countless rewatchings of Master and Commander before I felt confident in recalling what happened when, so perhaps I'm just singularly disadvantaged when it comes to non- or semi-linear storytelling. I repeat, though, I didn't feel lost while watching it, but it does take concentration. This is not a movie you can talk through or go see when you're mentally exhausted because if you get off track, it could be very hard to get back on again. If you're used to watching romantic comedies or action movies with brief bursts of plot separated by lengthy episodes of 'action relief' (coughcoughPiratescough ahem), it'll be a pretty strenuous workout. But if you're up for it, it's good. I love it when a movie stays in my head, eating away at my brain for days after I see it, and this is definitely one of those. It brings to mind a word
bananabasket and I came up with in reference to the Snicket backstory: funfusing. You're confused, you're frustrated, and your brain turns circles on itself saying "If ____, then ____, but if that's the case then ____ can't ____! Unless..." but it's SO FUN! If that's your idea of a good time, anyway.Visually, it was excellent – helped, of course, by being set in my favourite time period – everyone and everything felt very real and interesting. The effects were seamless enough that you didn't even really see them, which is exactly how effects should be. The magic tricks look like magic tricks, not an exlplosion of pyrotechnics and computer fakery but subtle enough to be completely convincing as masterful stagecraft. The 'real magic,' then, when it does happen, is a little flashier, but still understated enough to preserve that sense of realism and not jar the audience into dropping their suspension of disbelief. (It reminded me a bit of the Philadelphia Experiment so, by drawing a tenuous connection to something outside the immediate story, was that little bit more credible.)
The casting was good as well. Of course the two leads were going to be played by A-list hotties, to draw in the audience, but they picked A-list hotties with character, not randomly selected off a list of square-faced intense-browed broad-shouldered crewcut American Dreams – I could actually tell them apart, which is more than I can say for most people in that category. Not only do they look like characters, but they're both really really good actors as well, who really seem to enjoy what they're doing. And it wasn't as if they were the only good actors in it, either, because the supporting cast was every bit as convincing as they were, not just thrown in to be pretty and give the stars their cues. Of particular note is Andy Serkis. The character he plays could easily have been your standard Mr Filler/Exposition but he made him a character, just as real and dimensional as any of the leads. This is probably my favourite thing I've seen him do ... Admittedly, I haven't actually seen him much, and the characters he's played haven't exactly been textbook cases of subtlety, but it was amazing to see such a rich performance for such a marginal character, proving that there are no small parts, just small actors – or, in this case, a really, really BIG one. (Maybe he should play Lupin in HP#5, heh heh.)
* SPOILER * SPOILER * SPOILER *
Now what everyone is really wondering: what does Christian Bale have to do with Jacques Snicket? Everything, Mr LiveJournal ... everything, dear reader ... everything.* Well, for a while I've been thinking Mr Bale would be the perfect person to play Jacques Snicket should The Vile Village ever get made into a movie. Jacques' part is very small; his purpose is basically to be condemned to death by a kangaroo court in a stunt orchestrated by his enemies. When we first really meet Bale's character, he's in chains in a courtroom, framed by his enemy, seemingly invitably condemned to death. Add to this the multiple schisms (between the two magicians, between the magicians and their assistants, between Thomas Edison and Nikolas Tesla [the AC/DC war has historical veracity]), the layers of dark secrets, the codes, the disguises, the theatres, the orphan, the siblings, the opulent but mysteriously underpatronised hotel, the funfusion, the secret mountain lab that gets destroyed by fire ... quite a Snickety brew you've got going there.
*okay, not actually everything, but my sister's love was hanging on putting that in and I can't resist quoting the Snicket Interview.
* END SPOILER *
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 09:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 03:10 pm (UTC)Anywho, now I'm going to have to go and see it, if I get the chance. Knowing me, I'll probably end up waiting until it comes out on video.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 05:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-07 07:53 pm (UTC)I'd say something more interesting, but I think my imagination quota for today is used up.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 09:25 am (UTC)And thanks for the Link to The Philadelphia Experiment- I always wondered what that movie was about! :)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 04:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-08 08:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-09 04:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-09 07:28 pm (UTC)Maybe I might be a little special...
Are you pretty?
I'm KIDDING! Really! (but seriously, are you? NO, I'm STILL KIDDING! Mostly! Probably! How much is airfare to France right now? NO - KIDDING!! I definitely mean it this time...)
JE SUIS SPECIALE AUSSI
Date: 2006-11-09 09:34 pm (UTC)Yeah, I'm a girl. And by working for something that really marked my childhood,you touch my Achille's heel !
I've got brown hair and absolutly amazing turquoise eyes (sorry, but I don't have a dictionnary that worth its name with me right now). I live in Nice, on the french riviera, beautiful at this season... So, when you want... How do you look like ?
OK, I'm kidding too... Maybe...
Welcome to the new Meetic everyone !... Sorry Tealin...
no subject
Date: 2006-11-09 10:10 pm (UTC)the Little Mermaid birthday card on your blog !
Rhâââââ ! If I had to be one Disney hero, it would definitly be Ariel !
Are you doing it on purpose ?...
Oh shut up, Gan, and go to bed !
Re: JE SUIS SPECIALE AUSSI
Date: 2006-11-10 06:47 pm (UTC)Nice, eh? Noddlemommy (Tealin's mother) worked in Menton for a year as an au pair and used to go to Nice regularly.
Re: JE SUIS SPECIALE AUSSI
Date: 2006-11-10 09:20 pm (UTC)(Don't worry - the check's in the mail!)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-10 09:23 pm (UTC)Vous DITES la vérité. Difference between "say" ans "speak".
Date: 2006-11-13 09:09 am (UTC)I don't know how to say it in english... But I would say I have a weakness for men who wear glasses... I think it comes of my first crush when I was 6 (dunno what "grade" it is for you). Haha !
Nice is a beautiful town by the sea, but at this time there are A LOT of road works for the tramway, and it sucks.
Love Ariel.