THE PRESTIGE (2006)

[luka]

 

[sus]

I want a good analysis of class markers from the Brits. E.g., had no idea til @Corpsey mentioned it that Bale's accent was cockney, which I've since learned is lower-class

 

[sus]

@catalog wanted to contribute to this thread but he was too shy, he wanted to share this student film of Nolan's and its theme of "multiple nested realities"

 

[sus]

@catalog wanted to contribute to this thread but he was too shy, he wanted to share this student film of Nolan's and its theme of "multiple nested realities"

Doubling too; in the credits, it's just "the men." Doubling also cropping up in a lot of the mindfuck films Linebaugh mentioned, like Fightclub—which all revolve around identity and reality. Sorta brings the "perfect inference," perception/reality barrier into focus.

 

[constant escape]

Might this mindfuck genre be related, movement-wise, to the corporatization of psychedelia? Big budgets, mainstream, etc.

 

[sus]

It doesn't feel super psychedelic, but it does line up demographically with boomers coming into prominence

 

[catalog]

Interesting mention of Robinson, its a touchstone name. Robinson Crusoe obviously, but also features in Celine, and the Patrick killer films, plus also the novel Robinson by iain sinclairs bezza Chris petit. I'm sure IdleRich and I had a conversation about Robinson a while back.

Still not watched the prestige yet, but I just saw dangerous game aka snake eyes and it's very entertaining. Not vintage ferrara, but not boring. I'll do a proper post about it. We should have an abel ferrara thread, he's one of my all time favourite directors

 

[luka]

I want a good analysis of class markers from the Brits. E.g., had no idea til @Corpsey mentioned it that Bale's accent was cockney, which I've since learned is lower-class

To break it down

Matthew - Reynolds ----- aristocrats
Me - Barty -' Craner ------ near aristocrats
Corpsey - version ----- scum

 

[luka]

 

[sus]

There are double ledgers everywhere: “Danton” is a stage name; “Alfred” is a fusion of twins Albert and Frederick; secrets lie at the heart of every intimate relationship, at the heart of each’s—Tesla, Caine, Burton, and Angier’s—life work. This is a film about the perils of wearing a mask.

The Mask (and Hypocrisy)

Nina C is hilarious and expertly uncovers some excellent psychological hijinx with masks We all wear masks here Questions Why and how do the masks give us license to say things we wouldn't get away with otherwise? Nina says she is a shy person in other situations is there a gap between our...

www.dissensus.com

 

[sus]

The philosopher C Thi Nguyen talks about how one of the attractions of gaming is "value clarity": whereas IRL values are complex, subtle, nuanced, trying to balance many competing priorities etc, in-game values are simple and clear: rack up points, accumulate resources, win the game. Morality is out the window, so is "the good life," so is ideology. Everything streamlines; you get tunnel vision; the world becomes a massive instrument to one end.

I think this is part of the appeal of The Prestige, too, and any work that deals with single-mindedness and obsession. Part of the pleasure we get, tracking the plot, living vicariously through characters, is their value clarity and utter devotion—here to being the best performer in London. The rest comes second, which means we can easily keep score, understand motivations, translate goal into behavior, like a classic “guy wants girl” rom com. Everything is instrumental to a single ends. “How long will you be staying?” “As long as it takes.”

 

[sus]

(Also: the ability to kill, to toy, to put human life second—as means, instead of ends; the obsession with chance/fate/determinacy/whatever—this flick drives the Coen Brothers green with envy.)

 

[sus]

So who watched this last night

 

[version]

I ended up watching Kung Fu Panda 3, but I'll watch it tonight.

 

[luka]

Not heard of this film before. What's it about?

 

[sus]

Art, illusion, acting, glory, rivalry, sacrifice, obsession

 

[Corpsey]

I actually think luka would really enjoy the prestige and find it hilarious.

To be honest, I've never really liked this film, though I know a lot of people think it's his best film and I respect your engagement with it.

I find it full of all the faults every Nolan film is full of (unconvincing, corny characters, first and foremost) and without the compensatory grand spectacle you get in 'Interstellar' and even 'The Dark Knight'.

But I'm willing to give it another go.

 

[luka]

I was surprised by how rubbish dark knight was. I sort of thought you couldn't go wrong with a batman film.

 

[sus]

The best defense of TDK I can muster is that its narrative works on pure comic-book "symbolic logic"

@Corpsey Yeah I could basically ditch the rest of his work, Memento is nice enough, but this is the one I'd care enough to save. It feels like the subject matter and themes line up nicely, and I'm invested in their dilemmas. But taste is taste!

 

[Corpsey]

What I felt watching that film and thinking about it afterwards was confusion. It was so loud, you couldn't hear the dialogue a lot of the time, he'd jammed it full of lofty themes without any conclusion being drawn from it all, the two face story felt like an extra storyline, one too many, the action was chaotically directed and you couldn't even see what was going on sometimes...

I guess all that confusion actually contributed to that film's power and success because it was perfectly in synch with Ledger/the Joker, the one truly remarkable element of the whole movie. His nihilism, which I think people actually embraced.

It's also his bombastic skill as a director. He's mr bombastic. The soundtrack is so overwhelming, the 'dark' tone of it all, it's hugely emotionally manipulative despite not really making that much sense...