Brain. Hurts.

[lonelybrit]

Am feeling smugly the very dutiful sibling/child this evening. I managed to give The Mother a birthday present she seemed genuinely happy to receive, I attempted to put oil on waters when the usual family row erupted over lunch, and I helped carry in the shopping. My halo has never been so shiny.

This evening we all sat down to watch The Prestige. About ten minutes into it The Mother said 'I'm very confused...', and about halfway through I admitted 'My brain hurts...' And then about two thirds of the way through we all finally figured it out and enjoyed the rest of the movie. I do recommend it. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale play the rival magicians very well, David Bowie had a nice cameo that suited him well even if his accent stumped us all as to its origin, though we all particularly enjoyed the lass who played Bale's character's wife. It is a very dark tale and you have to be on your toes from the start, but they do give you a well executed reveal/explanation at the end to make sure you didn't miss anything.

Comments

[lonelybrit]

Yep, it's hard to single any one actor out as they all really hold their own brilliantly. And it really is a dark tale, it's hard to feel truly hostile/sympathetic to either magician for any period of time, they're both such layered characters. David Bowie was great, guesses for his accent, though, ranged from French to Russian to Scottish. In the end we settled for 'European' :)

[darkhavens.livejournal.com]

Bowie's accent totally confused me too, but the casting was definitely ispired. Jackman and Bale made it impossible for me to choose a side, so I spent the whole movie feeling woe for both of them. *g*

The Jackman reveal scene really caught me unaware. I mean, I knew it already, but seeing it... and done with such understated horror!

[crazywritinfool.livejournal.com]

I LOVE The Prestige. Hugh Jackman+Christian Bale=ovaries asplodey.

There's a plot? Oh, yeah, that magic thing. I remember something about that...

[lonelybrit]

All the cast were spot-on - and yes, part of what made it so twisted was that there was no clear hero/villain in the piece, you felt sorry for/disgusted by both men to some extent.

Exactly, so quietly done, the camera slowly pulling back to confirm what we all knew *shudders*

[lonelybrit]

Hehe, I will admit that the film was always going to be a hit with me to some extent when it gifted us with a shirtless Hugh Jackman within the first ten minutes. Good stuff! :)

[x-equals-speed.livejournal.com]

I really liked that film, I've got it on dvd on the shelf behind me :D Everything you said about it is true, it's a very good story well executed.

Everything 'cept one thing :P I hated the explaination at the end, it's a pet hate of mine when films do that. One of two things will happen, either you'd already worked it out in which case it's patronising to have it explained slowly or you hadn't worked it out in which case it's like someone telling you the answer to a riddle while you're still thinking about it. If it were up to me movies wouldn't be allowed to explain themselves :P

Well, maybe on the internet.

[lonelybrit]

I can see why they felt the need for the explanation, though I did think they made a bit too big of a deal about some of the reveals - as if we should have had no clue until they spelt it out. That said, I did like how they did the reveal of all the other tanks, understated and very creepy :)

[x-equals-speed.livejournal.com]

Aye, the reveal was good :)
It's the explainations that got me :P
There's a difference between "look at this" and "now let me take half an hour to explain some events in immaculate detail as I die" ;)