JohnDoe
Bryn
Brenton
The Prestige (2006) - Footage Included
The Prestige
Coming Soon: Released on DVD March 21st
Director:Christopher Nolan
Writer:Christopher and Jonathon Nolan
Starring:Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Roger Rees, Christopher Neame, Andy Serkis
“Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called "The Pledge"; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician makes his ordinary something do something extraordinary. Now if you're looking for the secret... you won't find it, that's why there's a third act called, "The Prestige"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before.”-Cutter
Magic, mystery, illusion, before modern technological science truly got a foothold these were words that could be used to rationalise the unexplainable. In the last decade of the 1800’s man was taking his first steps into modern world with the help of the patented invention called Electricity.
Mixing thoughtful fantasy within an historical manipulation of the era Writer/Director Christopher Nolan has conjured a morality play that is spellbinding.
"Just to see... the looks on their faces..." - Angiers
Charting the path of two rival magicians, the film opens in England with the death of Robert Angiers (Hugh Jackman) in a stunt gone bad, while Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) struggles to save him.
Told in flashbacks, mixing past and present this is the story of what led up to the tragic events of that day. Angiers is a showman, a performer he really can sell a gag, and Borden is a tortured purist, an ambitious observer who lives for his craft.
"A real magician tries to invent something new, that other magicians are gonna scratch their heads over." - Borden
Put on trial and convicted for the murder, Borden is behind bars, hounded for the secret to his greatest feat, the transporting man.
Deception, deceit and lies are the price of a life in pursuit of fooling others, obsession breeds contempt. Once upon a time Robert and Alfred were friends working alongside a famous performer, under the tutelage of a roguish producer, Cutter (Michael Caine).
“No one cares about the man in the box, the man who disappears.” - Angiers
Gradually a cycle of one up’s man ship develops between the duo, splitting them, spiraling out of control and eventually resembling an interlude with Faust.
“Now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it because you're not really looking. You don't really want to know the secret. You want to be fooled.” - Cutter
John Doe says:
Quicker than the eye, this celluloid slight of hand trick is engrossing by design and with a bullet catching sense of wonder, staged to emulate the 3 Act, “pledge”, “turn”, “prestige” mantra of audience manipulation.
Director Chistopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, Following) confidently maintains the web of details without sacrificing momentum. Fluent in the language of cinema for all the talk of smarts and intelligence the film is at its heart blissfully entertaining. There is humour, drama, action and thrills throughout and a sly wit that enriches the journey towards discovering its secrets.
Imaginatively weaving an alluring fictional tale with speckles of real life, the screenplay rolls out the twists often enough so your mind is always engaged in gathering information.
The clever editing of story and pictures toys with narrative structure, while still remaining coherent and wrapping up all the strands neatly to highlight how much the script writing brothers learned from working on Memento.
The dense, yesteryear atmosphere achieved through the cinematography keeps you grounded out of time. The camera glimpses beneath the shroud of mystique finding images of veiled beauty and startling old school loving science fiction that hypnotise with colour and shadow.
Watching Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Machinist, Batman Begins, Velvet Goldmine, Empire Of The Sun, Equilibrium) act is like observing a world class poker player bluffing. There is an emotional detachment to the character that he sprinkles with humanity, it is a benchmark performance from last year.
Hugh Jackman (The Fountain, Erskineville Kings) has begun choosing some interesting parts recently. The role of Angier is a career high, JD’s not a huge fan but his choice of Directors recently sees the guy toning down his boisterous style, making him more interesting to watch.
Michael Caine (Ipcress File, Get Carter) is comfortable in his mentoring part and reminds that a great actor can make his job seem effortless.
Inspired casting sees the multi-talented David Bowie (Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Man Who fell to Earth) as inventor/mad scientist Nicola Tesla. Tesla was a real life figure who did groundbreaking work with electricity and later robotics, computer science and nuclear power. Bowie plays the man as an eccentric genius, a persecuted hermit with conviction and charisma.
Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World) is a rather bland actress sometimes and in this she lets her costume do most of the work. Its not that she lodges an unbalanced or even incomplete performance, just the part she plays is pivotal and a more seasoned actress could have really made better use of the emotive words of the page.
John Doe has always had a fascination with the past and also the world of magic, from the Mandrake comics to the enigmatic Houdini, so this film was very much an easy sell.
Amazingly what looked like a niche market concept is touched by Tinkerbell's wand and abracadabra becomes a genre hopping, original celluloid experience of significance from a promising filmmaker who continues to dazzle and amaze.
The DVD:
US Specs (DVD not released in Australia until March 21st 2007)
Transfer: Anamorphic Widescreen/5.1 Dolby Digital
Extras: The Directors Notebook: The cinematic sleight of hand of Christopher Nolan plus The art of Prestige gallery.
Click below to see the Trailer
See Christian Bale talk about the director, the film, his co-stars and his own personal choices.
Coming Soon: Released on DVD March 21st
Poster: DVD released March 21st
Writer:Christopher and Jonathon Nolan
Starring:Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Roger Rees, Christopher Neame, Andy Serkis
“Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called "The Pledge"; The magician shows you something ordinary, but of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician makes his ordinary something do something extraordinary. Now if you're looking for the secret... you won't find it, that's why there's a third act called, "The Prestige"; this is the part with the twists and turns, where lives hang in the balance, and you see something shocking you've never seen before.”-Cutter
Magic, mystery, illusion, before modern technological science truly got a foothold these were words that could be used to rationalise the unexplainable. In the last decade of the 1800’s man was taking his first steps into modern world with the help of the patented invention called Electricity.
Mixing thoughtful fantasy within an historical manipulation of the era Writer/Director Christopher Nolan has conjured a morality play that is spellbinding.
"Just to see... the looks on their faces..." - Angiers
Charting the path of two rival magicians, the film opens in England with the death of Robert Angiers (Hugh Jackman) in a stunt gone bad, while Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) struggles to save him.
Told in flashbacks, mixing past and present this is the story of what led up to the tragic events of that day. Angiers is a showman, a performer he really can sell a gag, and Borden is a tortured purist, an ambitious observer who lives for his craft.
"A real magician tries to invent something new, that other magicians are gonna scratch their heads over." - Borden
Put on trial and convicted for the murder, Borden is behind bars, hounded for the secret to his greatest feat, the transporting man.
Deception, deceit and lies are the price of a life in pursuit of fooling others, obsession breeds contempt. Once upon a time Robert and Alfred were friends working alongside a famous performer, under the tutelage of a roguish producer, Cutter (Michael Caine).
“No one cares about the man in the box, the man who disappears.” - Angiers
Gradually a cycle of one up’s man ship develops between the duo, splitting them, spiraling out of control and eventually resembling an interlude with Faust.
“Now you're looking for the secret, but you won't find it because you're not really looking. You don't really want to know the secret. You want to be fooled.” - Cutter
Easy buddy, this aint the boy from Oz anymore.
Quicker than the eye, this celluloid slight of hand trick is engrossing by design and with a bullet catching sense of wonder, staged to emulate the 3 Act, “pledge”, “turn”, “prestige” mantra of audience manipulation.
Director Chistopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins, Following) confidently maintains the web of details without sacrificing momentum. Fluent in the language of cinema for all the talk of smarts and intelligence the film is at its heart blissfully entertaining. There is humour, drama, action and thrills throughout and a sly wit that enriches the journey towards discovering its secrets.
Imaginatively weaving an alluring fictional tale with speckles of real life, the screenplay rolls out the twists often enough so your mind is always engaged in gathering information.
The clever editing of story and pictures toys with narrative structure, while still remaining coherent and wrapping up all the strands neatly to highlight how much the script writing brothers learned from working on Memento.
The dense, yesteryear atmosphere achieved through the cinematography keeps you grounded out of time. The camera glimpses beneath the shroud of mystique finding images of veiled beauty and startling old school loving science fiction that hypnotise with colour and shadow.
Watching Christian Bale (American Psycho, The Machinist, Batman Begins, Velvet Goldmine, Empire Of The Sun, Equilibrium) act is like observing a world class poker player bluffing. There is an emotional detachment to the character that he sprinkles with humanity, it is a benchmark performance from last year.
Hugh Jackman (The Fountain, Erskineville Kings) has begun choosing some interesting parts recently. The role of Angier is a career high, JD’s not a huge fan but his choice of Directors recently sees the guy toning down his boisterous style, making him more interesting to watch.
Michael Caine (Ipcress File, Get Carter) is comfortable in his mentoring part and reminds that a great actor can make his job seem effortless.
Inspired casting sees the multi-talented David Bowie (Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Man Who fell to Earth) as inventor/mad scientist Nicola Tesla. Tesla was a real life figure who did groundbreaking work with electricity and later robotics, computer science and nuclear power. Bowie plays the man as an eccentric genius, a persecuted hermit with conviction and charisma.
Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World) is a rather bland actress sometimes and in this she lets her costume do most of the work. Its not that she lodges an unbalanced or even incomplete performance, just the part she plays is pivotal and a more seasoned actress could have really made better use of the emotive words of the page.
John Doe has always had a fascination with the past and also the world of magic, from the Mandrake comics to the enigmatic Houdini, so this film was very much an easy sell.
Amazingly what looked like a niche market concept is touched by Tinkerbell's wand and abracadabra becomes a genre hopping, original celluloid experience of significance from a promising filmmaker who continues to dazzle and amaze.
The DVD:
US Specs (DVD not released in Australia until March 21st 2007)
Transfer: Anamorphic Widescreen/5.1 Dolby Digital
Extras: The Directors Notebook: The cinematic sleight of hand of Christopher Nolan plus The art of Prestige gallery.
Click below to see the Trailer
See Christian Bale talk about the director, the film, his co-stars and his own personal choices.
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
Touche, John.
What great timing, I was just talking films with my brother-in-law last night and he was saying how good this is. I couldn't place it and was going to look it up and then here it is! Thanks for the info,
Tracy
Movies and Life
Film & TV on DVD
Did you dig it?
Glad to be of help Tracy,
Prestige in no to be confused with the new Ed norton film The Illusionist which appears to occupy the same universe.
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
This is one for me, for sure. I remember thinking that, the day I read the cast list and the theme. Now I’ve read your review, [and director] I’m certain of it even more….
This will offer me exactly the type of ‘suspended’ belief I like for my $10.
Thanks for another great heads up,
Lilla
Ps I'll re-appear ..pfffft ..with my review after, if you like...
Film & TV on DVD
Horrorphile
Film & TV on DVD
Even though my reviews are spoiler free, films like The Prestige benefit from knowing as little as possible about the plot.