Near the beginning of "The Prestige", late 19th century stage magician Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) hands his girlfriend a pistol. "Shoot me," he commands, though she aims away from his body when she squeezes the trigger. Borden’s hand darts out, seemingly catching the bullet in mid-air. However, he reveals that he had simply slipped the bullet out of the gun before handing it to her. "It’s so simple when you think about it," the bewildered girlfriend remarks.
Until watching "The Prestige", I had never considered what an appropriate topic magicians are for film. The entire medium is based on illusion and trickery of one form or another; the actors, lighting, editing, special effects, and screenplay all combine in an attempt to temporarily trick us into thinking we’re watching truth unfold on screen. Borden’s career may be based on live performances, but the array of dazzling tricks he employs would be right at home on a movie set.
Borden’s chief rival is Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman), an former colleague who holds a very justifiable grudge. Although it would be difficult to assign total responsibility for the beginning of their obsessive hatred for one another, it quickly spirals out of control. Not content with merely having the better tricks, they directly and violently interfere with each other’s stage acts, spy and steal, manipulate subordinates, and shrewdly manipulate death itself in a game of one-upmanship to settle an ever escalating score.
I can’t say much more about the labyrinthine plot without taking away from the impact of the story, so I won’t. It enters areas of deception and oddity that benefit immeasurably from knowing little, as I did. Just like a magic trick, the anticipation and aura of mystery are key to the experience; as Borden points out, the audience will admire you for the secret, and could care less if they knew the truth.
Christopher Nolan, who wrote and directed, has gotten back to proving good on the immensely promising talent displayed in "Following" (1998) and "Memento" (2001) after his disappointing foray into Hollywood formula with "Insomnia" (2002) and "Batman Begins" (2005). Like his earlier efforts, the chronology unfolds brilliantly out of order, devoid of the gimmicky nonsense that haunts many these days. Despite consistently jumping in and out of the past perspectives of several characters, we’re rarely confused, as the sharp filmmaking never gets dizzying, instead keeping us exactly where we need to be, seeing what we need, or think we need, to see.
Going in, we know in advance that the film intends to trick us, and indeed it will often fool the vast majority of the audience, but not with the obvious methods. It would be easy to simply write in a few deceptions here and there and then have a big one at the finale, but Nolan doesn’t settle for that. Whereas so many thrillers these days telegraph their endings far in advance, this film contains a number of clues that serve not so much as to help us guess, but to reward the attentive viewer. As complex as it becomes, the beauty lies within the ultimate simplicity of the secrets; in a deliciously odd way, one would find a child better equipped to decipher the film’s code than an adult.
At various points, Borden asks "Are you watching closely?" Don’t think about watching this marvelously rewarding film without placing every iota of focus on the screen. Very rarely does a mainstream release display so much respect for the audience’s intelligence without taking it for granted. And as a burgeoning film critic, I can testify that the secret of making a movie this good is a feat of movie magic that more than a few people would kill for.
5 out of 5
0 comments:
Post a Comment