SPOILER ALERT! (Don't read the rest of this if you haven't seen The Prestige) Totally agree. I love the idea of the cloning machine twist. This movie is a scifi pure and simple, it's set up that way from the beginning. I think it bothers people because Nolan did such a fantastic job of setting up the reality of the world first that they insist that the scifi elements are tacked one. But when you think about it, that's what all great scifi does. Unlike fantasy, scifi crafts a world that you can related to and then sprinkles in something bizarre. I think that's why scifi is so closely regard to psychological horror and also makes a great platform for social commentary.
I agree, but it's not often mentioned and some people hated it. I think it's brilliant on so many levels. Nolan fanboys often put his other movies ahead of this with no mention, but I think it's his best (of what I've seen).
Yeah, having Bowie play Tesla was great. I just love how the entire movie unfolds. I remember when this (and the illusionist) both came out I thought they were going to be corny magician movies, but wow, was I ever surprised. Every time The Prestige was on TV when I flipped channels, I couldn't take my eyes off it. The Illusionist was pretty good too (and I'm no Ed Norton fan)..but not as good as this one.
so ytue..when I saw it, many times, I had many friends watch it, who also were blown away by iy..I understand the film, but I remember with the hats shot what Michael Caine's voiceover...that is a huge method...now I have been told we r being shown a trick thruout the movie..is that where u go into the time and space explaination?
I am sorry but this movie is not Underrated , some of my friends overrate it too . I enjoy this movie , I love it when movie is more than entertainment and gives you something to study
Yes, I think I meant to say it's not as widely viewed as Nolan's other movies. But I get the impression people don't rate it as much as Memento, Dark Knight and Inception, probably because it's so underviewed.
Wesley Andrews Borden's twin brother (the one that loved his assistant not his wife) is hanged at the end of the movie, while the other twin survives. Angier kills his clone(brother refers to this as well) every time he performs a magic trick, leaving everyone thinking that he teleported and no harm was done, but every time this trick is performed, his clone is killed.
Actually he states in the film, that he didn't know whether he was dying or his clone was dying, and that's why he was so afraid. Either it teleported him leaving a clone behind, or teleported a clone. Truthfully though, he dies either way since the first time he tests the machine he leaves a gun for the man in the machine to use, while in his shows, it is the man in the machine that is drowned.
BleakVision did you know Bowie originally refused to do it and Nolan flew out to his home and told him he was the only man he pictured in the role and that only *his* larger then life persona would give believability to the character?! I mean, now that's serious!
And here I thought that the "hiding in plain sight" referred to (SPOILERS) . . . . . Borden's having a twin brother who was with him the whole time, and nobody noticed.
Christopher Nolan has a knack for presenting important truths of the human condition in his films. The Prestige explores a particularly important one, the necessity of sacrifice. I appreciate Nolan tremendously as the realization of this truth has had a profound effect on my own life. Also, duality is woven into the story in a novel way. I am reminded of the double slit experiment where a single electron passes through both or Schrodinger's cat existing in two states simultaneously. Fascinating.
Holy moly I never realized how the answer to the trick was right in front of me THE WHOLE TIME. The focus on the bird trick and how it takes /more than one bird/ was the answer the whole time!!!!! "Where's its brother?" MY GOD! Mind blown
I also thing that the scene in the beginning, where the bird trick is called out by the child and Broden meets Sarah for the first time, is another such display of sign for the viewer. As the said trick uses two similar birds and for it much like Broden's transporting trick and eventually both tricks lead to absolute disappearance(death) of one of the participants of the trick.
Oh please Mr. Writer...... if you haven't, please do "The Tree of Life". Unfortunately, it may just be my desire to shove unappreciated beauty in the face of my friends and family whom don't get the movie.
+qabandiman It ain't so. As far as I see, Evan makes a different point. The AV article is about the "transported man" illusion, while this Nerdwriter video is about the language of film. The element to preserve immersion is a completely new in the Nerdwriter video. Both the article and the video have a tendency to hide points in complicated language, though.
+Craparella Smørrebrød Really? I mean, nothing Mike or Even are saying about the Prestige is new. It's not Nolan's best Nolan thing for nothing, people fell in love with it on first sight and over-analyzed it from the first month it was in theaters.
I am so devastated that I remember the ending from when I was a child. The literal only thing I remembered from this whole movie was that scene Christian Bale shoots Hugh Jackman and literally explains the whole twist. I've just finished watching it, for what I consider the first time and it was so obvious to me that the man was Bale in makeup. It's actually miraculous to me how people can NOT immediately notice that, but I understand that they don't, which makes me incredibly sad because I understand I will never experience this movie how it should be experienced. Nolan is a genius for fooling the first time viewers.
Great point about dissecting film feeds the mystery of it. Just how Penn & Teller, even showing how magic tricks are done, has never made magic redudant. Great video.
Writing is exceptionnal, realisation's also .... and the acting too ! Once again Bale is amazing (Of course)! But the cast suits so well !!! oO Jackman versus Bale (each able of anything) ... and "The Turn" Michael Caine !!! Such a jewell ! So much distractions for one goal ....a real real real pleasant, as harsh as beautiful trick Mr Nolan !! Once again ....
The chinese man's trick and Borden's explaination that the real act/trick is the chinese man's life outside the show queue me into watching for people acting and playing a trick outside of their show for the rest of the movie. While it didn't let me pick up very much on a first time watch, when the it got to the scene with Borden asking Follen to take his daughter to the zoo immediately after Borden promised that he himself will take her to the zoo, I had the idea that Follen might have been working as Borden's double, and to a potentially extreme degree considering he would let him take his daughter to the zoo for him. It still took me a while to realize the true extent of their deception though, and I never expected that it had been happening since before the beginning.
Nolan has made some very, very good movies, and The Prestige is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I'm still wondering how he managed to fail so miserably with Interstellar, though. I know where he failed (time travel), but I don't understand how he allowed himself to do so.
Usually suspense-based movies catch you by surprise, because you don't expect them. The Prestige is a movie in which the director tells you "Watch carefully. You will be fooled". And you get fooled.
Another subtle nod to the ending and the reality behind Borden’s trick is the double sided coin he gives to the child after the “where’s his brother scene”. The coin symbolizing that Borden is a two faced figure and hints at why on some days he doesn’t love his wife. Not as ubiquitous as the bird, but a subtle implication nonetheless.
The twist of this movie wasn't that Borden was twins. It's that Angier's "cloning machine" never actually worked. Angier just made everyone think that it worked. Everyone except for Borden, that is.
Did you know that in the original script, the twist was going to be that Hugh Jackman's character was only cloning himself so he could start a hat store.
Figured out early on that Borden had a double because... Michael Caine said so and supported by Borden & the double's body language. I knew those were Hugh's clone in the show but man, the revelation where his clones kept, didn't see that coming. 😳
LOVE this. My favorite Nolan film (I named my cats after characters). Really good breakdown of how the movie works with a plot and script that would be a convoluted shitstorm in the hands of a lesser filmmaker. I've read the book and it does read as pretty unfilmable (good book tho) yet Nolan even uses one of the main conceits of the book (the nested journals) and weaves it into the narrative seamlessly. This movie should not exist but I'm so happy it does.
1.Is Alfred Borden has a clone? -No he doesn't. He has a identical twin named Freddy Borden 2. Why do Alfred and Freddy share 1 life? -sacrifice. To make the trick of transported man success, audience should never knows that there are 2 persons. So they share 1 life for 2 persons for the whole life. 3. Why do Borden write "tesla" as a key? -key for diary, not for the tricks. The diary is full of machine drawing. Borden has fake electric machine, but not Tesla's. It just for dramatic entertainment only. 4. What does the quote "are you watching closely" means? -Borden see there are a lot of glass boxes. But he doesn't pay attention to the clone body inside it. 5. Is Angier still alive? -in the end we just see Angier drowning with open eyes. It seems dead.
I'm not certain I agree, or perhaps I don't understand fully, your final final statement 'it doesn't kill magic, but feeds it back into the real world.' I'm hoping you could elaborate, however, the following is my take, and I'd be interested to hear your (or anybody else's) feedback or comments on some of these thoughts. It began as a simple question, but bc it's a topic of interest, and because I have to complete an overdue essay for Uni, and I'm fond of using any excuse to procrastinate, so I decided to elaborate. The capacity of insight demonstrated by the boy grieving over the birds brother, is rare, Haley Joel Osment comes to mind as Cole Sear in the 6th Sense, although obviously I'm talking about real people. Children, more than adults, however, experience life in the moment, they are expressions of what people were before language. Children do not only consume magic with abandon, and create magic in play for themselves, their lives embody magic. Unfortunately, society would rather see them doing code, and becoming mathematicians before the age of 6, instead of magicians. As we get older, we protect ourselves with different personalities or masks for different situatons. I know a number of accomplished people that find it difficult to compartmentalize their profession, and so avoid what could be personally pleasurable pursuits, such as listening to music, or seeing films. They often complain of not being able to selectively focus, the dominate voice, in constant critique mode, or their all-consuming tinnitus of creativity takes over. It is impossible for magic to be welcome into your reality, if the home (inner-self) has no space for magic to perform, or the space is abstract; nowhere to play. If the house has been shut down, perhaps taped off like a crime scene. These represent metaphors for realities that are non-genuine constructions, it can happen as you transfer identities to inappropriate contexts. If nerdfighter was on a date, and gave a critique on her dancing style like he was reviewing a movie, then it would be unhelpful, especially if it's based on Elaine's (Seinfeld) dancing style! Constructions may be helpful if they are adding or supporting an existing genuine core self, but if they are filling a void, then it is as if all your organs are failing, your body system is shutting down. An example of this in film is in the life of theatre director Caden Cotard (Phillip Seymour Hoffmen) in 'Synecdoche, New York' who so disconnected, is body begins shutting down, and it is not until the end when he is directed with a whisper 'to die'. Therefore, many refrain from having to go through the motions of pretence, and miss out on experiencing music, movies, or anything that could otherwise be enriching. Taking this to an extreme, I'm sure one would find their sex-life problematic if they're partners, or both incomes, are derived from pornography. I would imagine in that context some magic to go amiss! It's a common conundrum that many aspire fame, and yet some of those who live it aspire desperately for anonymity something we often begrudge. Acquiring a 'social status' of 'knowledge capital' (Bourdieu) situates you, in whatever context, as an authority. However, this can also prevent a willingness, or stifle a capacity for relatedness, in a lot of other, or similar experiences, 'shared or personal'. In another context, the lack of autonomy in participating in the construction of our genuine reality can be as a result of unconscious consent. Often unknowingly, we consent, and surrender, to a paradigm which subordinates basic human values, for those that are economic. Where children are meant to be mathematicians, and learn code before the age of 6, having to keep up being transfixed to more and more screens; denied play. A divide is created between humans and nature, and that divide, or disconnection, even exists within ourselves. Therefore, rather than casting a probing eye to understand these structures, and collaborate for social change, we become complacent, settling for Huxley's dystopic vision where 'ignorance is bliss'. If magic is fed back into our real world, how should it be accommodated, or conceptualists? Should we be hypnotized by it, have it become our 'habitus' and own it, or should we be aware of a more empirical reality as its osmosis permeates the memory cells of our DNA, to construct us. I can appreciate another view that embraces erecting the status of magic as a major tenet of our identity, and a pillar of our culture, it might be a struggle to grasp, and require some suspension of disbelief, but it's a hell of a lot more fun than being paralyzed by reality with all its undesirables such as mortality. However, what if facing the truth of reality, rather than being paralysising by it actually creates conditions for which its limitations can be appreciated, and injustices can be challenged. The reality of 'magic' and its other cohorts; popularity, enlightenment; happiness; and meaning, are all often acquired through trickery. They all belong to the same delusion. We are sold these esoteric non-tangibles through images, which we purchase as consumers. They are from the same mould as 'opium' from religion or the 'magical stories' from Hollywood, that churn out our staple diet of artificially constructed mythologies. They comprise a complex assortment of invisible ingredients, meticulously measured, and carefully baked, using the the same magical recipe, from the cook book of trickery, the Bible called 'power'. Author, unknown, but everywhere, existing omnipresent beneath the stories of all our narratives. Regardless of whether you study film or not, most of us fall prey to consumerist propaganda. Whilst we may unlock the mystery behind the polysemy of messages in film, this semiotic analysis is rarely translated to the real world. In some circumstances this can be a good thing, otherwise you might get people believing in the American Dream, or a washed-up movie star who had some success as a super-hero, might decide to resurrect himself as a real Birdman, and some unfortunate will have to clean the blood from the pavement. Though, not case in the magic of movies, when Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) was able to fly off in the final scene of Birdman! We can cry with the boy who knows there is a dead bird, yet 'we' intrinsically connected with earths ecology, and indeed the universe often fail to grasp that the bird is more than a dying world. So too, a butterfly & a cyclone on the other side of the planet, share this inter-connectedness, and are equally significant. Perhaps, you already understand all this, and realize there is little hope, we are never going to secure control, pessimism is destined to prevail, and ignorance is a choice, not an unknowing. If we can open the doors to mythology, and allow these stories to construct our memories, then perhaps, as we all fall down together, we can fall down happily. Perhaps, it's wise to embrace 'tolerance' and forget the pipe-dream of 'equality'. Likewise, rather than the unrealistic pursuit of freedom, we instead simply aspire to love. Like the lyrics of the Talking Heads song: 'We don't want Freedom; We don't want Justice; We just want someone to Love'. Finally, perhaps it's been the case since humans first began using language, all we have had are signs and symbols, which has separated us from nature. In a post-modern world we can be as creative as we like, taking on identities, and creating memories from whatever stories suit. Our second life can become first; our virtual: the real; the game, the sport; the avatar; the character; the whateva: all this can be our real concrete reality. I'm not sure I buy it, but perhaps I can regain some semblance of control and get back into painting, because as Bob Ross inspires, when you paint: 'Don't worry if it doesn't look exactly like the photo, it's your world, and you can create in it anything you want in it". Though his son used this against him when he Bob demanded he clean his room.! It is complicated I admit though, and so I guess whilst I'd prefer for my 4 year nephew Clyde, to express allegiance to spontaneity, creativity, dance, art, and play, as a morning ritual, I guess it was kinda cute that he was so proud to recite our National Anthem, as a result of the schools discipline of morning ritual. Also, I thought it a bit sad that even though he has no idea what Star Wars is, the only present he wanted for his 4th Birthday was a Star Wars toy! But then again, when my mum took him shopping and bought the toy for him, at least it stopped him crying! Perhaps, there's nothing wrong with (and Baudrillard was correct) explaining our modern world as a simulacrum: "The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth-it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true". [Simulacra and Simulation (French: Simulacres et Simulation) is a 1981 philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard, in which he seeks to examine the relationships among reality, symbols, and society] Gary Askwith
good point on the boy, i missed that and it feeds into my take-away of my sexond viewing. the boy is still authentic. he sees thentruth. while adults deny it. thats whatbi took away from the film. brilliance. sheer brilliance.
+Antonio I don't think it's deceitful at all. You contribute to his Patreon because you appreciate the quality and subject matter of his videos and think he deserves it, not in exchange for a product. Plus, the Squarespace endorsement lies at the end of the video essay in an unobtrusive way.
There's a lot of thought and effort that go into producing such high caliber video essays each week; I sure hope he's raking it in! I've been a Patreon since he launched his profile and I've never been disappointed. :)
the plot : BOTH OF THEM WON BOTH OF THEM LOST TRYING TO OUTDO EACH OTHER.
6 лет назад
This was a very good movie, but both my brother and I figured out the twins plot, very early on. Much sooner than I reckon the film had intended the viewers to get that. =/ But still, was enjoyable.
You can't go back to being unknown once you reached that high success. If he would make memento today everyone would treat it like a blockbuster movie.
Halfway through the film when I realized what was happening with the machine, I realized the very first shot is the prestige. Granted I had learned about the failings of teleportation, which this film exploits brilliantly.
So many good movies do this, it's quite common and it's a device from literature. It's called foreshadowing. In this movie it's quite heavy-handed and not at all subtle
In the second half of the movie, Borden tells Follen that the "little lady wants to go to zoo" and I thought to myself, well he promised his daughter that HE will take her to zoo, then why is he asking Follen to do so ? Man Nolan keeps telling you the secret so many times during the course of the movie but you just don't look for it
I like how Batman is about a single person (Bale) trying to maintain two different personalities while prestige is about two people (both played by Bale, again!) trying to maintain a single personality. Damn you Nolan!
A similar bit of foreshadowing to the bird scene: “When I’m done with him he could be your brother.” “I don’t need him to be my brother; I need him to be me.”
The canary scene, with the kid realizing that the magician killed "its brother"... it had never even occurred to me that this minor plot point was actually a metaphor for the entire movie. Mind = blown.
+Kurtis C. Not quite, that's just Angier's trick being mirrored, but Borden's observation of the chinese man's trick is the metaphor for the entire movie. He's blatantly telling Angier his trick (that his entire life has been a lie), but thanks to misdirection, he doesn't even notice. The film's title and introduction even echo this misdirection, by implying that it's all about The Prestige (Angier's trick), when in reality it's all about The Pledge (Borden's trick).
White Noise what’s weird about that is that it was always the one going in that dies. Except for the very first time.. that time the guy going in shoots the other. My personal theory: it’s both him. Just in their own respective body
one thing that i still have doubts about is does angier clone before every act and have the clone be the showman while he hides upstage or is the clone made right during the act and the box be placed upstage from which the clone come out, the latter scenario leaves the original angier to be the showman and the one who dies in every act. If this were true then that would mean that the original angier is long dead after the first showing of the act and the machine is capable of even cloning the memories and concionsness of the former angier into the clone, which is freaking mind blowing. This makes angiers addiction for fame and notoriety even more sinsiter to go as far as deliberately killing his original self in each act, Strafing farther and farther away from the original angier after each and every act. Am i the only one considered this possibility. Cuz the clone is made when the electricity strikes the original but the movie makes it seem like that the original angier is preserved til the very end and is the one who is killed of by fallon .
@@anuroopkm3181 If you interpret the machine as really working, my understanding is that "they are all Angier", you couldn't tell them apart. Also, there is a scene were Angier drowns himself in a sink until he sees his wife, maybe he was kind of obsessed with trying to understand what she felt
5:33 look at this scene. Before Angier got shot by burden he told borden that him and his clones kept switching and he didn’t know whether he was going to be the victim or the prestige. Which angier do you think this is?
I just watched it and that's exactly what I thought, it's like Inception, the movie is like a dream, it starts in the middle of the action, you don't know how you got there and it ends abruptly, it's like waking up
I watched this movie the first time, I am so confused.. Then came the ending, I was mind blown.. I watched it the second time in the next day (my life is dull, got nothing better to do), I noticed that Bale's characteristics changed from time to time, indicating that the twin switched their places.. You can tell by the second time watching this.. You wouldn't noticed it the first time... The one that gets sentenced to jail was really hot tempered, while the survived one was really calm.. So amazing..
@Hafidz Murshidie and keep rewatching over and over and over again and every single time you will spot something new. Something you didn't notice before. The movie is about magic tricks yet the best part is that the whole movie is actually a one big magic trick. Nolan is a magician.I have seen this movie at least 30 times and always get rewarded at the end. That is how good this movie is. true masterpiece for me :)))
The quote near the end is also meta, because it applies to both magic and film: "You never understood why we did this. The audience knows the truth. The world is simple, it's miserable, solid all the way through. But if you could fool them, even for a second then you could make them wonder, and then you got to see something very special. You really don't know. It was the look on their faces."
@assaultinggravity8985 Forgive me, as I just finished watching this masterpiece for the first time an hour ago, but how could the machine not have actually worked!?
Just realised that Borden discovered the old Chinese man's trick because he and his brother were pretty much doing the same thing: living the lie on and off stage
One scene that has stuck with me is the “You don’t know?!”-scene. This scene didn’t make sense to me until the very end (obviously). The brother at the funeral wasn’t the one who tied the knot. This brother feels remorse, guilt and shame for what his brother did. He truly doesn’t know which knot it was, because it wasn’t him. It was his brother.
Why did they keep switching though, why not have one twin with one wife and the the other twin with the other girl. Or the same twin that tied the killing knot go to the funeral, why switch the twin?? Whats the point in them switching constantly throughout the film???? Fantastic Film however as is always the case with Nolan.
+PauLtus B Really? It was blindingly obvious to me, as a clue to the entire rest of the movie. Funny how people notice such different things from the same piece of work... .
I think it just might be the most powerful scene in the movie, thinking metaphorically. The first time I saw it, my stomach tried to jump out of my body... And I can't say anything about The Prestige without mentioning the genius of casting David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, particularly with our recent loss of the greatness that was Bowie. Sometimes you need a brilliant madman to play one so perfectly.
I'm fairly new to your channel, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. Your insights are fantastic! And the Prestige is one of my favorite films as well.
That's the one scene that makes me think ''Really, that should have given it away". It was just so impossible. But I just accepted it at the time, and I haven't met anyone else who didn't.
Just watched this movie tonight and I think the reason why you give this scene an easy pass is because you never know how close to reality and the “possible” it is keeping to and how much they’re faking through “movie magic” (ie. editing) to give the illusion of magic for the sake of the plot. So you’re never sure exactly how much weight to put on the plausibility of matters and whether you should question them or not. That and then the movie also steers completely into fiction when Angier gets his Tesla cloning machine at which point anything is possible in this now fictional world the movie is portraying and so all you can do is sit back and take everything as it is shown to you as trying to apply any real world logic to figure out ahead of time what is happening is an absolutely pointless exercise with the movie being able to do whatever it wants to achieve the end effect of surprising you.
The Bacons It was a solid film. I think it was a small apology & nod to Scorsese saying “We’ve fucked up for decades. Sorry about that” Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York and arguably The Aviator. A few snubs here & there & pure day light robbery. It shouldn’t be like that but... yeah
The Prestige was entering 6th Sense levels of mind-trickery. I could hardly stand it at the last scene. A part of me knew the story was fictitious, but I still felt completely sold on the characters from start to finish. I wanted to believe that what was happening was real, and the cinematography never impeded on how the story unfolded. I don't understand what made this movie so magical (pun intended) but I need more movies like this in my life.
Totally agree with you. I can't belive i only watched it for the first time last year. I just hope Nolan keeps on making amazing movies like these and that other film makers take note. Im sick of remakes and sequels and superhero movies. We need original movies like this.
Just a matter of opinion, but I don't think The Sixth Sense held up especially well on a second viewing. I think it cheated in some key spots, and despite it being the more popular film I don't think this comparison does The Prestige any favors.
@@happysaffa8871 unfortunately Nolan said he'd produce 10 pieces of work (TV series or films) only, and by now I think he made 8 so there's not much left to be seen from Nolan I hope he change his mind coz i'm a die hard fun of him
@Logan Sorry dude. But you shall never have. This is the best movie ever made. There is no movie that you can even closely compare to this phenomenal art. This is a masterpiece of all the masterpieces. This is the prestige of the cinematography.
Nah he’s right. For a while I couldn’t watch a movie without always thinking about the actors and realizing how weird it would be to be taking part. But when a movie does it well you don’t even think about it
6 лет назад+7
@@BadGrief you not understanding the sentence doesn't make it nonsenscial.
That “where’s his brother line” makes Jackman’s character’s wanting to not kill birds for the trick seem far more important. And makes Bale’s character’s killing of the bird more interesting
People talk about how this movie is easy to pick apart, but I agree with the narrator, it doesn't matter, this movie is brilliant, no matter how predictable the "turns" are. Because ultimately it's not about being "surprised," but rather, it's about being amazed at how it all plays out. A magic act is nothing, without the performance to support it.
It should also be noted that true surprise twists or turns make for awful movies because it means the movie doesn't make any sense. Most adults have seen hundreds, if not thousands of movies and there's an implicit structure and language to them that has been established over the last 100 years within cinema and before that over thousands of years of story telling, throwing away all that structure and rules to be surprising or "fresh" is awful film making. It's a fine line between making what will happen too obvious to the audience versus not setting it all up properly. In some sense the most experienced audience members should know what will broadly happen in any given scene past the set up for the movie. And if you don't set it up then the twist might as well be that aliens invade earth at the mid point of the movie or one of the characters wakes up at the end and it was all a dream.
EDIT: Mike D'Angelo's reply on Twitter: twitter.com/gemko/status/702604690161184768 Reposting in the main thread: Hello, everyone! I DID NOT read [the AV club article] article before making this video. I didn't know it existed. When people started posting it, I clicked over and couldn't quite believe it. After reading through I see certain similarities, but I think the key point is totally different. I'm talking about Nolan's desire to make a meta-cinematic comment on film itself. This article is talking about how Nolan uses different techniques to hide the twist of the film. Also, we discuss different scenes. The headlines match, which was a total surprise to me. I spent last night trying to figure out what the best headline would be and this popped into my mind. I mean, it's a common phrase. I hope this clears things up. I wish this was more juicy, but seriously I had no idea this article existed.
Since the article was written so recently, it's possible that you came across a preview/thumbnail of the article online (e.g Facebook) without reading it but while still being subliminally influenced/inspired by the title and theme. It then gave you the idea for a video about the film. This happens far more often than we think, and people who make adverts now how to abuse this trick very well. Don't worry about it. Great video.
Totally merciless timing. When people started posting it, I clicked on the link and I was like, 'oh crap', then I looked at the publish date and I was like 'oh crap'. Then I read it and was like, 'well this is totally different than my piece but have I just awoken an internet beast?!' I honestly had zero clue of the existence of this article, but I'm genuinely worried that people won't believe that. Ugh.
+Nerdwriter1 I find it weird how a lot of people in the comment section discredit/devalue your video due to that article. When you compare the reaction people have for something like this, to how they react when artists copy photographs for photo realistic paintings. Both your video and the painting holds their own display of skill yet your video holds a much greater creative expression (idea itself, how you link the ideas etc). Yet the photo realistic painting is usually put on a pedestal by the masses and when someone hears an article with the same name posted around a similar time people jump to the assumption of intellectual theft and become angered. I believe and see the differences in the article and video however even if it was copied, your videos are so well made that you deserve a lot of credit, regardless.
+Nerdwriter1 dude, is your channel, is your work, is your time. some people just need to be mad at stuff. if you explained yourself and defended your work, that is all. at the end of the day, you do all the hard work, not them.
+Nerdwriter1 Hey Evan, hope you don't let this get to you too much. The internet is an unforgiving place many a time. Ironically, this is the same thematic reason why the YT Fair Use Policy is such a mess right now; people online are guilty until proven innocent...and it's bullshit. Most don't understand the amount of work, time and diligence it takes to produce quality content, especially in-depth analyses like these; and being so quick to denounce is pretty much an insult to all of that work. Anyone with enough of a brain can see that the only real potential "plagiarism" going on is the title, except they are relating to two very different ideas so even that falls short. The witch-hunting mob-mentality is powerful on the net. Almost always close-minded and uninformed, but powerful. People don't stop to actually think for a second. The video has barely been out for a day and people are all giddy to start pointing fingers and reprimand you. Disappointing. Not surprised (sadly), but utterly disappointed by many of you who fall or fell under this category. Just keep doing your thing and try not to get bogged down by things like this. Honest people will always receive well back. Keep up the quality work dude, and looking forward to the new things you've got coming.
What I find interesting about the Angier trick is that the first time he kills the one a few metres away and for the trick he kills the one still in the machine. No matter which way round it is, the original Angier is killed at some point, but we never know and in a sense it doesn’t matter, because both are just as much him, and whoever survives has not only murdered himself but is forced to wonder which version will survive.
Nolan practically gives away his clue like crazy, i remember the scene when Fallon was trapped in a coffin by Angier and Cutler But in the 4 people dinner scene between Borden, Fallon, Olivia, and Sarah, it's Borden that said "i invented a new trick that i was buried in the coffin and then Fallon will dig me" although it was Fallon who supposedly being trapped and Borden who dig him
I picked up on that when rewatching that scene as well, it also explains why he was so irrate when he arrived at dinner because it was actually him who nearly go buried alive and not Fallon. Noticing the mood/personality changes between the twins across different scenes is mind blowing to realise. So effective and also so well acted by Bale.
@@callumo8156 when i first watch Prestige i was like "what is Borden's problem?, sometimes he is a sweetheart sometimes he is an arse" and then when the revelation came and Angier said that he rejected Cutler's theory because he thinks that's too easy i was speechless
"If there's one fundamental theme that suffuses his entire filmography, it's that cinema, as a shared narrative, can be a hugely powerful cultural force" No shit Sherlock.
The movie dives deep on the themes of obsession (the extent to which Angier was willing to go to uncover Borden's trick) that eventually led to his downfall and sacrifice (the price Borden paid for a good trick). What the Prestige does in addition to what was already mentioned in the video was become a metaphor for the rivalry between Tesla and Edison. Both wizards of science, highly intellectual and innovative leads that essentially produced magic in the form of science that whose relationship consisted parallel to Borden's and Angier's, featuring harsh rivalries, sabotaging, slander, essential bullying, secrets and stolen ideas/tricks. (Though in The Prestige, these acts are pretty much shared). Angier obsessed over Borden's secrets, similarly to how Edison obsessed over Tesla's. But while Edison was rich, famous and well-regarded at the time, Tesla sacrificed all these in trade for discovering areas of science that would've stunned our world today (such as allegedly finding a way to provide free energy to the world), if it not for most of his work being destroyed, hence forming the enigma Tesla is today.
ferinate101 idk if this just a random thought or if it was intended, but "Angier" is one letter away from "Anger." I wonder if that was another connection to the obsession. That his anger lead to obsession?
@@HORSESNDOGS9 Damn. Never thought about this. But since you have pointed this out I would say it is on purpose. It is Christopher Nolan. He has been playing tricks with us the whole movie. I guess this is just another one. Thx for the insight :)))
@@tonyle4540 Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nolan had nothing to due with that. The Prestige film is based on the book "The Prestige" by Christopher Priest. Angier and Borden were names he gave them in the book. Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan's brother, adapted the screenplay.
If you really pay attention to this movie it's truly a Masterpiece! Every single element in this movie is perfect. You're given Just enough clues to mislead you to think about one thing but it's really something entirely different. "Slight of Hand" if you will. I LOVE this movie. My mother and I went and seen it when it comes out. I thought it was just going to be another "Magic Movie" but it wasn't I was blown away by everything in this movie. My mother and I STILL talk about this movie to this day. She has her theory about it. and I have Mine.
I love how the bird trick with the one bird dying and the other one showing up at the prestige parallels the magic trick at the end with one Hugh Hackman dying and the other one showing up in the prestige. Brilliant.
+Eric Miesbauer One of the best American contemporary movies, I wouldn't list it top 50 for my favorite movies these past 10 years if we count foreign movies
neither of those things. actually I was thinking of french movies although now that you mention it there have been some good japanese movies that have come out recently
No Angier has no way of knowing if he is gonna drown or not because once you have stepped into the machine you cant tell if youre the Clone or the original. Thats what the line about how It was bravery every time he stepped into the machine. «I didnt know if i was gonna be in the box or the prestige.»
Guys the prestige is a magic trick itself! The machine doesn’t work! He only killed once his double (the drunk guy), so that he could make batman the culprit. The solution is under your eyes, but you donkt want to see it… the scene in which you see the machine working is only told by wolverine to batman… to keep the lie alive exactly how the chinese did with the fish bowl
Anyone else notice that the canary trick at the very start of the film was basically a parallel to what eventually becomes Angier's "teleportation" trick at the end of the film? So basically they give away the whole plot in the first fifteen minutes... but you don't realize it until the end of the film.
They give away most of the movie in that first shot. And yes, within 15 minutes the entire plot is told. We just don’t know it as we want to be fooled.
+Chris V. please, next time write it as " >implying nolan is a bad filmmaker" tho he is also >implying we'd slay him cuz he wrong, which we won't :D of course we won't
I think it's the one who is married, just off the top of my head, because I seem to remember one of the best scenes to see it was when he was showing her nephew the trick coin.
The dialogue, "Do you love me".
"Not today" felt mediocre initially but has a whole different meaning when you watch it the second time.
I have watched it 3 times all in same day
@@strangerui4009 i watched it twice back to back
Oh shit
@@polarski2 that's my reaction tooo 😭
This is one of many of those little hints and instances
This is one of the most underrated films of all time. Rewards rewatching over and over.
absolutely
SPOILER ALERT! (Don't read the rest of this if you haven't seen The Prestige)
Totally agree.
I love the idea of the cloning machine twist. This movie is a scifi pure and simple, it's set up that way from the beginning. I think it bothers people because Nolan did such a fantastic job of setting up the reality of the world first that they insist that the scifi elements are tacked one. But when you think about it, that's what all great scifi does.
Unlike fantasy, scifi crafts a world that you can related to and then sprinkles in something bizarre. I think that's why scifi is so closely regard to psychological horror and also makes a great platform for social commentary.
Underrated? Its widely considered one of the better films made
I agree, but it's not often mentioned and some people hated it. I think it's brilliant on so many levels. Nolan fanboys often put his other movies ahead of this with no mention, but I think it's his best (of what I've seen).
Yeah, having Bowie play Tesla was great. I just love how the entire movie unfolds. I remember when this (and the illusionist) both came out I thought they were going to be corny magician movies, but wow, was I ever surprised. Every time The Prestige was on TV when I flipped channels, I couldn't take my eyes off it. The Illusionist was pretty good too (and I'm no Ed Norton fan)..but not as good as this one.
curiously, the little boy foreshadow the whole plot "He kills him", "But where his brother?"
XerosXIII that's the point
Wow I get it now!
I can't believe you said this, when it was obviously why he brought it up.
just stating the obvious :P
Foreshadowing takes guts and confidence not to give away the movie.
Criminally underrated film.
Agree
so ytue..when I saw it, many times, I had many friends watch it, who also were blown away by iy..I understand the film, but I remember with the hats shot what Michael Caine's voiceover...that is a huge method...now I have been told we r being shown a trick thruout the movie..is that where u go into the time and space explaination?
I wouldn't say underrated, just underviewed. I don't think I know someone who gives this movie less than an 8.
I am sorry but this movie is not Underrated , some of my friends overrate it too . I enjoy this movie , I love it when movie is more than entertainment and gives you something to study
Yes, I think I meant to say it's not as widely viewed as Nolan's other movies. But I get the impression people don't rate it as much as Memento, Dark Knight and Inception, probably because it's so underviewed.
Once you re-watch this movie, the "But where's his brother?" line has a whole new layer of meaning and a whole new layer of sadness.
Oh my god it does
Duje Vuković why?
Wesley Andrews Borden's twin brother (the one that loved his assistant not his wife) is hanged at the end of the movie, while the other twin survives. Angier kills his clone(brother refers to this as well) every time he performs a magic trick, leaving everyone thinking that he teleported and no harm was done, but every time this trick is performed, his clone is killed.
Nicole Song no its the clone that lives and he dies. Right?
Actually he states in the film, that he didn't know whether he was dying or his clone was dying, and that's why he was so afraid. Either it teleported him leaving a clone behind, or teleported a clone. Truthfully though, he dies either way since the first time he tests the machine he leaves a gun for the man in the machine to use, while in his shows, it is the man in the machine that is drowned.
Rest in peace,David Bowie
BleakVision did you know Bowie originally refused to do it and Nolan flew out to his home and told him he was the only man he pictured in the role and that only *his* larger then life persona would give believability to the character?! I mean, now that's serious!
But David Bowie looks absolutely nothing like Nikola Tesla, He could have at least hired someone who looked a little like him IMO.
And here I thought that the "hiding in plain sight" referred to (SPOILERS)
.
.
.
.
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Borden's having a twin brother who was with him the whole time, and nobody noticed.
Leo King about that when My Sister saw the film she noticed that detail inmediately.
Know what else is hiding in plain sight? The boom op at 2:16
Oh shit.
Where is it?
hahaha the sound guy
Good eye!
I don't understand
Even though I don't understand what you are saying , I still enjoy watching your videos.
Christopher Nolan has a knack for presenting important truths of the human condition in his films. The Prestige explores a particularly important one, the necessity of sacrifice. I appreciate Nolan tremendously as the realization of this truth has had a profound effect on my own life. Also, duality is woven into the story in a novel way. I am reminded of the double slit experiment where a single electron passes through both or Schrodinger's cat existing in two states simultaneously. Fascinating.
Holy moly I never realized how the answer to the trick was right in front of me THE WHOLE TIME. The focus on the bird trick and how it takes /more than one bird/ was the answer the whole time!!!!! "Where's its brother?" MY GOD! Mind blown
I also thing that the scene in the beginning, where the bird trick is called out by the child and Broden meets Sarah for the first time, is another such display of sign for the viewer. As the said trick uses two similar birds and for it much like Broden's transporting trick and eventually both tricks lead to absolute disappearance(death) of one of the participants of the trick.
And now I need to dig through Nerdwriter1's uploads to see if he ever had any videos on "The Tree of Life" or "The Thin Red Line".
I love Malick.
Oh please Mr. Writer...... if you haven't, please do "The Tree of Life".
Unfortunately, it may just be my desire to shove unappreciated beauty in the face of my friends and family whom don't get the movie.
@@alexkairis3927 four years late but I do the exact same thing with that movie
LOTR and Nolan back to back. Damn you're on a roll
Did you read this article, Evan? www.avclub.com/article/prestige-plays-trick-its-audience-hiding-secret-pl-232247
Everyone make sure to stop by the reddit thread and see how Nerdwriter is just some plagiarizing fuck.
+Brian Larson www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/47d0kx/the_prestige_hiding_in_plain_sight_nerdwriter/
+Craparella Smørrebrød aw man.. I actually kinda enjoy his videos... this sucks.. please say it aint so!!!
+qabandiman It ain't so. As far as I see, Evan makes a different point. The AV article is about the "transported man" illusion, while this Nerdwriter video is about the language of film. The element to preserve immersion is a completely new in the Nerdwriter video. Both the article and the video have a tendency to hide points in complicated language, though.
+Craparella Smørrebrød Really?
I mean, nothing Mike or Even are saying about the Prestige is new.
It's not Nolan's best Nolan thing for nothing, people fell in love with it on first sight and over-analyzed it from the first month it was in theaters.
I am so devastated that I remember the ending from when I was a child. The literal only thing I remembered from this whole movie was that scene Christian Bale shoots Hugh Jackman and literally explains the whole twist. I've just finished watching it, for what I consider the first time and it was so obvious to me that the man was Bale in makeup. It's actually miraculous to me how people can NOT immediately notice that, but I understand that they don't, which makes me incredibly sad because I understand I will never experience this movie how it should be experienced. Nolan is a genius for fooling the first time viewers.
Great point about dissecting film feeds the mystery of it. Just how Penn & Teller, even showing how magic tricks are done, has never made magic redudant. Great video.
Writing is exceptionnal, realisation's also .... and the acting too ! Once again Bale is amazing (Of course)! But the cast suits so well !!! oO Jackman versus Bale (each able of anything) ... and "The Turn" Michael Caine !!! Such a jewell ! So much distractions for one goal ....a real real real pleasant, as harsh as beautiful trick Mr Nolan !! Once again ....
I watched this movie well after it came out. Now I’m now obsessed with this movie.
Soooooooo good.
Rewatching this vid again has made me very excited for @Nerdwriter1 's take on Dunkirk.
utter masterpiece of a movie and by some distance, nolan's best work in my opinion. bowie playing tesla is the stuff of dreams
My favorite of Nolans movie and that should mean something. Most underrated as well. Great video too!
Took one video about one of my favorite movies and here I am subscribed, you are awesome!
The chinese man's trick and Borden's explaination that the real act/trick is the chinese man's life outside the show queue me into watching for people acting and playing a trick outside of their show for the rest of the movie. While it didn't let me pick up very much on a first time watch, when the it got to the scene with Borden asking Follen to take his daughter to the zoo immediately after Borden promised that he himself will take her to the zoo, I had the idea that Follen might have been working as Borden's double, and to a potentially extreme degree considering he would let him take his daughter to the zoo for him. It still took me a while to realize the true extent of their deception though, and I never expected that it had been happening since before the beginning.
I would love to see a take on the works of satayjit ray
Nice riff on Michael Fried's contrast between "absorptive" and "theatrical" aesthetics.
It shows that everything is in front of you but you still want to be fooled
Nolan has made some very, very good movies, and The Prestige is one of the best movies I've ever seen. I'm still wondering how he managed to fail so miserably with Interstellar, though. I know where he failed (time travel), but I don't understand how he allowed himself to do so.
Nerdwriter1, You have smooth narrative skills there.
You make some great content man, don't ever stop.
Usually suspense-based movies catch you by surprise, because you don't expect them. The Prestige is a movie in which the director tells you "Watch carefully. You will be fooled". And you get fooled.
I thought this was about prestige world wide
MrJwarrior15 FUCKING CATALINA WINE MIXER
MrJwarrior15 lol
Prestige, World, Wide, Wide, Wide, Wide
"Research and Development... putting in the man hours to study the science of what you need. Last week we put liquid paper on a bee... and it died."
Another subtle nod to the ending and the reality behind Borden’s trick is the double sided coin he gives to the child after the “where’s his brother scene”. The coin symbolizing that Borden is a two faced figure and hints at why on some days he doesn’t love his wife. Not as ubiquitous as the bird, but a subtle implication nonetheless.
I could never have watched this video and still had the same amount of information in my brain as I did after watching it.
The twist of this movie wasn't that Borden was twins. It's that Angier's "cloning machine" never actually worked. Angier just made everyone think that it worked. Everyone except for Borden, that is.
Did you know that in the original script, the twist was going to be that Hugh Jackman's character was only cloning himself so he could start a hat store.
I'm not a big Nolan fan in general, but The Prestige might just be my favorite movie, and the one I have watched the most times.
Nolan also demonstrate "Double binding" which is the real trick.
Figured out early on that Borden had a double because... Michael Caine said so and supported by Borden & the double's body language. I knew those were Hugh's clone in the show but man, the revelation where his clones kept, didn't see that coming. 😳
Just discovered your videos by chance. Love them; amazing job!
LOVE this. My favorite Nolan film (I named my cats after characters). Really good breakdown of how the movie works with a plot and script that would be a convoluted shitstorm in the hands of a lesser filmmaker. I've read the book and it does read as pretty unfilmable (good book tho) yet Nolan even uses one of the main conceits of the book (the nested journals) and weaves it into the narrative seamlessly. This movie should not exist but I'm so happy it does.
I had to watch this movie twice in a row. It’s up there with Fight Club for pure twists and hidden messages
You have a great narrative voice !!
The people living in that time underrated and the morden era rated it right
1.Is Alfred Borden has a clone?
-No he doesn't. He has a identical twin named Freddy Borden
2. Why do Alfred and Freddy share 1 life?
-sacrifice. To make the trick of transported man success, audience should never knows that there are 2 persons. So they share 1 life for 2 persons for the whole life.
3. Why do Borden write "tesla" as a key?
-key for diary, not for the tricks. The diary is full of machine drawing. Borden has fake electric machine, but not Tesla's. It just for dramatic entertainment only.
4. What does the quote "are you watching closely" means?
-Borden see there are a lot of glass boxes. But he doesn't pay attention to the clone body inside it.
5. Is Angier still alive?
-in the end we just see Angier drowning with open eyes. It seems dead.
I'm not certain I agree, or perhaps I don't understand fully, your final final statement 'it doesn't kill magic, but feeds it back into the real world.' I'm hoping you could elaborate, however, the following is my take, and I'd be interested to hear your (or anybody else's) feedback or comments on some of these thoughts. It began as a simple question, but bc it's a topic of interest, and because I have to complete an overdue essay for Uni, and I'm fond of using any excuse to procrastinate, so I decided to elaborate.
The capacity of insight demonstrated by the boy grieving over the birds brother, is rare, Haley Joel Osment comes to mind as Cole Sear in the 6th Sense, although obviously I'm talking about real people. Children, more than adults, however, experience life in the moment, they are expressions of what people were before language. Children do not only consume magic with abandon, and create magic in play for themselves, their lives embody magic. Unfortunately, society would rather see them doing code, and becoming mathematicians before the age of 6, instead of magicians.
As we get older, we protect ourselves with different personalities or masks for different situatons. I know a number of accomplished people that find it difficult to compartmentalize their profession, and so avoid what could be personally pleasurable pursuits, such as listening to music, or seeing films. They often complain of not being able to selectively focus, the dominate voice, in constant critique mode, or their all-consuming tinnitus of creativity takes over.
It is impossible for magic to be welcome into your reality, if the home (inner-self) has no space for magic to perform, or the space is abstract; nowhere to play. If the house has been shut down, perhaps taped off like a crime scene. These represent metaphors for realities that are non-genuine constructions, it can happen as you transfer identities to inappropriate contexts. If nerdfighter was on a date, and gave a critique on her dancing style like he was reviewing a movie, then it would be unhelpful, especially if it's based on Elaine's (Seinfeld) dancing style! Constructions may be helpful if they are adding or supporting an existing genuine core self, but if they are filling a void, then it is as if all your organs are failing, your body system is shutting down.
An example of this in film is in the life of theatre director Caden Cotard (Phillip Seymour Hoffmen) in 'Synecdoche, New York' who so disconnected, is body begins shutting down, and it is not until the end when he is directed with a whisper 'to die'.
Therefore, many refrain from having to go through the motions of pretence, and miss out on experiencing music, movies, or anything that could otherwise be enriching. Taking this to an extreme, I'm sure one would find their sex-life problematic if they're partners, or both incomes, are derived from pornography. I would imagine in that context some magic to go amiss! It's a common conundrum that many aspire fame, and yet some of those who live it aspire desperately for anonymity something we often begrudge.
Acquiring a 'social status' of 'knowledge capital' (Bourdieu) situates you, in whatever context, as an authority. However, this can also prevent a willingness, or stifle a capacity for relatedness, in a lot of other, or similar experiences, 'shared or personal'.
In another context, the lack of autonomy in participating in the construction of our genuine reality can be as a result of unconscious consent.
Often unknowingly, we consent, and surrender, to a paradigm which subordinates basic human values, for those that are economic. Where children are meant to be mathematicians, and learn code before the age of 6, having to keep up being transfixed to more and more screens; denied play.
A divide is created between humans and nature, and that divide, or disconnection, even exists within ourselves. Therefore, rather than casting a probing eye to understand these structures, and collaborate for social change, we become complacent, settling for Huxley's dystopic vision where 'ignorance is bliss'.
If magic is fed back into our real world, how should it be accommodated, or conceptualists? Should we be hypnotized by it, have it become our 'habitus' and own it, or should we be aware of a more empirical reality as its osmosis permeates the memory cells of our DNA, to construct us.
I can appreciate another view that embraces erecting the status of magic as a major tenet of our identity, and a pillar of our culture, it might be a struggle to grasp, and require some suspension of disbelief, but it's a hell of a lot more fun than being paralyzed by reality with all its undesirables such as mortality.
However, what if facing the truth of reality, rather than being paralysising by it actually creates conditions for which its limitations can be appreciated, and injustices can be challenged. The reality of 'magic' and its other cohorts; popularity, enlightenment; happiness; and meaning, are all often acquired through trickery. They all belong to the same delusion. We are sold these esoteric non-tangibles through images, which we purchase as consumers.
They are from the same mould as 'opium' from religion or the 'magical stories' from Hollywood, that churn out our staple diet of artificially constructed mythologies. They comprise a complex assortment of invisible ingredients, meticulously measured, and carefully baked, using the the same magical recipe, from the cook book of trickery, the Bible called 'power'. Author, unknown, but everywhere, existing omnipresent beneath the stories of all our narratives.
Regardless of whether you study film or not, most of us fall prey to consumerist propaganda. Whilst we may unlock the mystery behind the polysemy of messages in film, this semiotic analysis is rarely translated to the real world. In some circumstances this can be a good thing, otherwise you might get people believing in the American Dream, or a washed-up movie star who had some success as a super-hero, might decide to resurrect himself as a real Birdman, and some unfortunate will have to clean the blood from the pavement. Though, not case in the magic of movies, when Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) was able to fly off in the final scene of Birdman!
We can cry with the boy who knows there is a dead bird, yet 'we' intrinsically connected with earths ecology, and indeed the universe often fail to grasp that the bird is more than a dying world. So too, a butterfly & a cyclone on the other side of the planet, share this inter-connectedness, and are equally significant.
Perhaps, you already understand all this, and realize there is little hope, we are never going to secure control, pessimism is destined to prevail, and ignorance is a choice, not an unknowing. If we can open the doors to mythology, and allow these stories to construct our memories, then perhaps, as we all fall down together, we can fall down happily.
Perhaps, it's wise to embrace 'tolerance' and forget the pipe-dream of 'equality'. Likewise, rather than the unrealistic pursuit of freedom, we instead simply aspire to love. Like the lyrics of the Talking Heads song: 'We don't want Freedom; We don't want Justice; We just want someone to Love'.
Finally, perhaps it's been the case since humans first began using language, all we have had are signs and symbols, which has separated us from nature. In a post-modern world we can be as creative as we like, taking on identities, and creating memories from whatever stories suit. Our second life can become first; our virtual: the real; the game, the sport; the avatar; the character; the whateva: all this can be our real concrete reality.
I'm not sure I buy it, but perhaps I can regain some semblance of control and get back into painting, because as Bob Ross inspires, when you paint: 'Don't worry if it doesn't look exactly like the photo, it's your world, and you can create in it anything you want in it". Though his son used this against him when he Bob demanded he clean his room.!
It is complicated I admit though, and so I guess whilst I'd prefer for my 4 year nephew Clyde, to express allegiance to spontaneity, creativity, dance, art, and play, as a morning ritual, I guess it was kinda cute that he was so proud to recite our National Anthem, as a result of the schools discipline of morning ritual.
Also, I thought it a bit sad that even though he has no idea what Star Wars is, the only present he wanted for his 4th Birthday was a Star Wars toy! But then again, when my mum took him shopping and bought the toy for him, at least it stopped him crying!
Perhaps, there's nothing wrong with (and Baudrillard was correct) explaining our modern world as a simulacrum: "The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth-it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true".
[Simulacra and Simulation (French: Simulacres et Simulation) is a 1981 philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard, in which he seeks to examine the relationships among reality, symbols, and society]
Gary Askwith
I didn't read it all, but that's a great analysis
Can you make videos on Citizen Kane, The Graduate and Lost in Translation? Some of my favourites :)
You have an enormous gift. Thank you for sharing it with the world.
I just saw the movie today and then I came here to watch this and now I have to watch the movie again
good point on the boy, i missed that and it feeds into my take-away of my sexond viewing. the boy is still authentic. he sees thentruth. while adults deny it. thats whatbi took away from the film. brilliance. sheer brilliance.
Damn, now, after Garryx Wormuloid impression of Michael Caine, I can't take this actors speech seriously xD damn you
I felt the end of the film was a bizarre cop out that tarnished an almost perfect film.
Glad I didn't donate now that you're raking in sponsorship money. it's a bit deceitful
That's good to hear, because, as it happens, I am taking donations lol
+Antonio I don't think it's deceitful at all. You contribute to his Patreon because you appreciate the quality and subject matter of his videos and think he deserves it, not in exchange for a product. Plus, the Squarespace endorsement lies at the end of the video essay in an unobtrusive way.
+Antonio How do you know, how much he's raking in money?
There's a lot of thought and effort that go into producing such high caliber video essays each week; I sure hope he's raking it in! I've been a Patreon since he launched his profile and I've never been disappointed. :)
+Chris O'Connor He plaigiarized the whole video.
the plot : BOTH OF THEM WON BOTH OF THEM LOST TRYING TO OUTDO EACH OTHER.
This was a very good movie, but both my brother and I figured out the twins plot, very early on. Much sooner than I reckon the film had intended the viewers to get that. =/
But still, was enjoyable.
YES!!! YOU UNDERSTAND NOLAN!!!
I don't know what's more pretentious - Nolan's films or this review.
The Prestige is kind of Nolan's underrated masterpiece. I really really wish he would go back at least once to something small like this and Memento.
You can't go back to being unknown once you reached that high success. If he would make memento today everyone would treat it like a blockbuster movie.
Blockbuster or not it's still a masterpiece.
nah look at M.Night Shyamalan
The Prestige is way way bigger than Memento
Isn't though
What's so phenomenal about that opening shot, is you're essentially being given an answer to a question you don't even know to ask yet.
Yeah , similar to interstellar
Halfway through the film when I realized what was happening with the machine, I realized the very first shot is the prestige.
Granted I had learned about the failings of teleportation, which this film exploits brilliantly.
So many good movies do this, it's quite common and it's a device from literature. It's called foreshadowing. In this movie it's quite heavy-handed and not at all subtle
@@embracethemystery stfu
@@embracethemystery there is a difference between foreshadowing and showing you ta part of the film you havent got to yet
In the second half of the movie, Borden tells Follen that the "little lady wants to go to zoo" and I thought to myself, well he promised his daughter that HE will take her to zoo, then why is he asking Follen to do so ? Man Nolan keeps telling you the secret so many times during the course of the movie but you just don't look for it
Bruhhhhhh
Because you want to be fooled.
That's cause you wanna be fooled.
Are. You. Watching. Closely? 😉
Abracadabra
I like how Batman is about a single person (Bale) trying to maintain two different personalities while prestige is about two people (both played by Bale, again!) trying to maintain a single personality. Damn you Nolan!
🤯 Mind blown!
This is also the case with the prestige. Angier and Caldlow are two personalities played by one man while Bordon is one personality played by two men.
waaaw 🔥♥
My favourite thing about this movie is they actually got the only man worthy of playing tesla.
The Tykjen Starman being Starman
It's not an actor, it's TeslaBowie
They found him inside a meteor
@@andrewmcadam3357 lol
Tesla Death Ray oh yes
A similar bit of foreshadowing to the bird scene: “When I’m done with him he could be your brother.” “I don’t need him to be my brother; I need him to be me.”
Such bloody great re-watch value, this movie!
Cutter knew alfred's secret
@@theresajones2378he knew he used a double. He didn't know he had a twin surely.
The canary scene, with the kid realizing that the magician killed "its brother"... it had never even occurred to me that this minor plot point was actually a metaphor for the entire movie.
Mind = blown.
+Mick D Could go either way. ;)
By the way, I think "analog" is the correct term when taking the context into consideration..
+Kurtis C. Not quite, that's just Angier's trick being mirrored, but Borden's observation of the chinese man's trick is the metaphor for the entire movie. He's blatantly telling Angier his trick (that his entire life has been a lie), but thanks to misdirection, he doesn't even notice.
The film's title and introduction even echo this misdirection, by implying that it's all about The Prestige (Angier's trick), when in reality it's all about The Pledge (Borden's trick).
Good observation. "Are you watching closely?" is also the first line in the film.
That btw, everyone should keep in mind when watching the news.
He didn't just say it. He referred to the bird as a "he" which made it even more powerful
Did his brother get hanged?
"You're the lucky one today", says Borden to the little bird. FORSHADOWING
When you actually think about how many parts of the story are foreshadowed by this scene it becomes all the more impressive
It also foreshadows hugh jackman’s character who has no idea which version of him is going to die when he does his trick
White Noise what’s weird about that is that it was always the one going in that dies. Except for the very first time.. that time the guy going in shoots the other.
My personal theory: it’s both him. Just in their own respective body
I love how angier starts out as saying "I don't wanna kill no doves" but in the end he is fine with killing his clone every act
That also shows how far gone he became in his obsession. Not wanting to harm a dove, to drowning his clone every act
one thing that i still have doubts about is does angier clone before every act and have the clone be the showman while he hides upstage or is the clone made right during the act and the box be placed upstage from which the clone come out, the latter scenario leaves the original angier to be the showman and the one who dies in every act. If this were true then that would mean that the original angier is long dead after the first showing of the act and the machine is capable of even cloning the memories and concionsness of the former angier into the clone, which is freaking mind blowing. This makes angiers addiction for fame and notoriety even more sinsiter to go as far as deliberately killing his original self in each act, Strafing farther and farther away from the original angier after each and every act. Am i the only one considered this possibility. Cuz the clone is made when the electricity strikes the original but the movie makes it seem like that the original angier is preserved til the very end and is the one who is killed of by fallon .
Isn't he killing himself and isn't the clone the one who lives on
@@anuroopkm3181 If you interpret the machine as really working, my understanding is that "they are all Angier", you couldn't tell them apart. Also, there is a scene were Angier drowns himself in a sink until he sees his wife, maybe he was kind of obsessed with trying to understand what she felt
5:33 look at this scene. Before Angier got shot by burden he told borden that him and his clones kept switching and he didn’t know whether he was going to be the victim or the prestige. Which angier do you think this is?
The whole movie is a magic trick. It has a pledge, a turn and a prestige.
+Folarin You took the words out of my mouth... or my keyboard. :D
Folarin Nolan will not be truly appreciated until he's dead. The man is an absolute legend
even when he's dead he'll be appreciated
I HAD THE SAME THOUGHT, bless you
I just watched it and that's exactly what I thought, it's like Inception, the movie is like a dream, it starts in the middle of the action, you don't know how you got there and it ends abruptly, it's like waking up
I watched this movie the first time, I am so confused.. Then came the ending, I was mind blown.. I watched it the second time in the next day (my life is dull, got nothing better to do), I noticed that Bale's characteristics changed from time to time, indicating that the twin switched their places.. You can tell by the second time watching this.. You wouldn't noticed it the first time... The one that gets sentenced to jail was really hot tempered, while the survived one was really calm.. So amazing..
Yeah Bale's performance in this film is absolutely incredible.
Nolans movies all have great actors. It's unfair to the rest that one gets all the praise.
@Hafidz Murshidie
and keep rewatching over and over and over again and every single time you will spot something new. Something you didn't notice before. The movie is about magic tricks yet the best part is that the whole movie is actually a one big magic trick. Nolan is a magician.I have seen this movie at least 30 times and always get rewarded at the end. That is how good this movie is. true masterpiece for me :)))
@@tonyle4540 Now, take the time to read the book which this is based on. Be amazed again, differently.
@@kengruz669 dont be that guy
The quote near the end is also meta, because it applies to both magic and film:
"You never understood why we did this. The audience knows the truth. The world is simple, it's miserable, solid all the way through. But if you could fool them, even for a second then you could make them wonder, and then you got to see something very special. You really don't know. It was the look on their faces."
Hugh's delivery was golden
It’s about fooling us making us think the crackly machine worked as a clone machine but it didn’t and the clones were wax doubles
@assaultinggravity8985 Forgive me, as I just finished watching this masterpiece for the first time an hour ago, but how could the machine not have actually worked!?
Damn.. Now I have to watch The Prestige again.
Airma D Noctis cx in the chat
Ikr
Read the book, too.
Just realised that Borden discovered the old Chinese man's trick because he and his brother were pretty much doing the same thing: living the lie on and off stage
One scene that has stuck with me is the “You don’t know?!”-scene. This scene didn’t make sense to me until the very end (obviously). The brother at the funeral wasn’t the one who tied the knot. This brother feels remorse, guilt and shame for what his brother did. He truly doesn’t know which knot it was, because it wasn’t him. It was his brother.
Wow I missed this one, thank you!
Wait so who even wrote Christian bales diary. Which twin was it
@@sebastianmcmillan3276 they both wrote it. That's why Angier says it's so hard to follow the diary bc it feels like a divided mind.
Vikash Samaga clever lad. There’s so much little information that u miss in the first viewing
Why did they keep switching though, why not have one twin with one wife and the the other twin with the other girl. Or the same twin that tied the killing knot go to the funeral, why switch the twin?? Whats the point in them switching constantly throughout the film???? Fantastic Film however as is always the case with Nolan.
"But what happened to his brother". I have seen this movies about 10 times I think and I never made that connection.
+PauLtus B
Really? It was blindingly obvious to me, as a clue to the entire rest of the movie. Funny how people notice such different things from the same piece of work...
.
neuralmute
I am really surprised I noticed it now. I thought I knew most there was to know about the movie.
I think it just might be the most powerful scene in the movie, thinking metaphorically. The first time I saw it, my stomach tried to jump out of my body... And I can't say anything about The Prestige without mentioning the genius of casting David Bowie as Nikola Tesla, particularly with our recent loss of the greatness that was Bowie. Sometimes you need a brilliant madman to play one so perfectly.
neuralmute
I wasn't aware it was Bowie at first. I just knew I loved Tesla in that movie. The man was great at taking on different faces.
PauLtus B
Well, Tesla was pure genius, and Bowie was pure genius. And neither were quite entirely of this world. Could there be a more perfect match?
I'm fairly new to your channel, but it's quickly becoming one of my favorites. Your insights are fantastic! And the Prestige is one of my favorite films as well.
I love both of your channels!
+Jason Lee Same
I was about to say almost the exact same thing.
I was legitimately confused at how Borden got into Sarah's house so quickly on the first date
“Real magic”
That's the one scene that makes me think ''Really, that should have given it away". It was just so impossible. But I just accepted it at the time, and I haven't met anyone else who didn't.
When u watch second time, u just get baffled, about that scene
Just watched this movie tonight and I think the reason why you give this scene an easy pass is because you never know how close to reality and the “possible” it is keeping to and how much they’re faking through “movie magic” (ie. editing) to give the illusion of magic for the sake of the plot. So you’re never sure exactly how much weight to put on the plausibility of matters and whether you should question them or not.
That and then the movie also steers completely into fiction when Angier gets his Tesla cloning machine at which point anything is possible in this now fictional world the movie is portraying and so all you can do is sit back and take everything as it is shown to you as trying to apply any real world logic to figure out ahead of time what is happening is an absolutely pointless exercise with the movie being able to do whatever it wants to achieve the end effect of surprising you.
100%. I guess I just chalked it up to "movie magic"@@craiggallagher4461
After all these years, I still can't bear the fact that Departed won 4 Oscars and Prestige none.
No way. It should've _at least_ won best editing.
Dying Morality the departed was terrible
Oscars go to worthy films, not great ones.
@@thebacons5943 Compared to the original, Infernal Affairs... I agree.
The Bacons It was a solid film. I think it was a small apology & nod to Scorsese saying “We’ve fucked up for decades. Sorry about that” Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Gangs of New York and arguably The Aviator. A few snubs here & there & pure day light robbery. It shouldn’t be like that but... yeah
The Prestige was entering 6th Sense levels of mind-trickery. I could hardly stand it at the last scene. A part of me knew the story was fictitious, but I still felt completely sold on the characters from start to finish. I wanted to believe that what was happening was real, and the cinematography never impeded on how the story unfolded. I don't understand what made this movie so magical (pun intended) but I need more movies like this in my life.
Totally agree with you. I can't belive i only watched it for the first time last year. I just hope Nolan keeps on making amazing movies like these and that other film makers take note. Im sick of remakes and sequels and superhero movies. We need original movies like this.
Very well said.
Just a matter of opinion, but I don't think The Sixth Sense held up especially well on a second viewing. I think it cheated in some key spots, and despite it being the more popular film I don't think this comparison does The Prestige any favors.
@@happysaffa8871 unfortunately Nolan said he'd produce 10 pieces of work (TV series or films) only, and by now I think he made 8 so there's not much left to be seen from Nolan I hope he change his mind coz i'm a die hard fun of him
@Logan
Sorry dude. But you shall never have. This is the best movie ever made. There is no movie that you can even closely compare to this phenomenal art. This is a masterpiece of all the masterpieces. This is the prestige of the cinematography.
Hugh Jackman was so good in this movie.
One of his best roles, to be sure
@@HORSESNDOGS9 My favorite scenes of his acting are from when he played Angier's double
His death scene delivery is pure acting
Thank you
So was Batman
"Studying film doesn't kill its Magic... it feeds that magic back, into the real world!"
More like nonsensical pretentious gibberish.
Bazerk Explain.
Because it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't explain why the film is good, he's just saying random shit that sounds smart.
Nah he’s right. For a while I couldn’t watch a movie without always thinking about the actors and realizing how weird it would be to be taking part. But when a movie does it well you don’t even think about it
@@BadGrief you not understanding the sentence doesn't make it nonsenscial.
That “where’s his brother line” makes Jackman’s character’s wanting to not kill birds for the trick seem far more important. And makes Bale’s character’s killing of the bird more interesting
This is good!! ^^
It's strange to me that Jackman's character doesn't want to kill doves, but is okay with killing himself countless times
@@somecommenter4256its himself, its the same thought of hurting yourself doesnt matter as long as you dont hurt others. Its not the same
People talk about how this movie is easy to pick apart, but I agree with the narrator, it doesn't matter, this movie is brilliant, no matter how predictable the "turns" are. Because ultimately it's not about being "surprised," but rather, it's about being amazed at how it all plays out.
A magic act is nothing, without the performance to support it.
and we're taught that as well because at first Alfred can't put on a solo show
It should also be noted that true surprise twists or turns make for awful movies because it means the movie doesn't make any sense. Most adults have seen hundreds, if not thousands of movies and there's an implicit structure and language to them that has been established over the last 100 years within cinema and before that over thousands of years of story telling, throwing away all that structure and rules to be surprising or "fresh" is awful film making. It's a fine line between making what will happen too obvious to the audience versus not setting it all up properly. In some sense the most experienced audience members should know what will broadly happen in any given scene past the set up for the movie. And if you don't set it up then the twist might as well be that aliens invade earth at the mid point of the movie or one of the characters wakes up at the end and it was all a dream.
The machine never worked, wax doubles
EDIT: Mike D'Angelo's reply on Twitter: twitter.com/gemko/status/702604690161184768
Reposting in the main thread: Hello, everyone! I DID NOT read [the AV club article] article before making this video. I didn't know it existed. When people started posting it, I clicked over and couldn't quite believe it. After reading through I see certain similarities, but I think the key point is totally different. I'm talking about Nolan's desire to make a meta-cinematic comment on film itself. This article is talking about how Nolan uses different techniques to hide the twist of the film. Also, we discuss different scenes. The headlines match, which was a total surprise to me. I spent last night trying to figure out what the best headline would be and this popped into my mind. I mean, it's a common phrase.
I hope this clears things up. I wish this was more juicy, but seriously I had no idea this article existed.
Since the article was written so recently, it's possible that you came across a preview/thumbnail of the article online (e.g Facebook) without reading it but while still being subliminally influenced/inspired by the title and theme. It then gave you the idea for a video about the film. This happens far more often than we think, and people who make adverts now how to abuse this trick very well. Don't worry about it. Great video.
Totally merciless timing. When people started posting it, I clicked on the link and I was like, 'oh crap', then I looked at the publish date and I was like 'oh crap'. Then I read it and was like, 'well this is totally different than my piece but have I just awoken an internet beast?!' I honestly had zero clue of the existence of this article, but I'm genuinely worried that people won't believe that. Ugh.
+Nerdwriter1 I find it weird how a lot of people in the comment section discredit/devalue your video due to that article. When you compare the reaction people have for something like this, to how they react when artists copy photographs for photo realistic paintings. Both your video and the painting holds their own display of skill yet your video holds a much greater creative expression (idea itself, how you link the ideas etc). Yet the photo realistic painting is usually put on a pedestal by the masses and when someone hears an article with the same name posted around a similar time people jump to the assumption of intellectual theft and become angered. I believe and see the differences in the article and video however even if it was copied, your videos are so well made that you deserve a lot of credit, regardless.
+Nerdwriter1 dude, is your channel, is your work, is your time. some people just need to be mad at stuff. if you explained yourself and defended your work, that is all. at the end of the day, you do all the hard work, not them.
+Nerdwriter1 Hey Evan, hope you don't let this get to you too much. The internet is an unforgiving place many a time. Ironically, this is the same thematic reason why the YT Fair Use Policy is such a mess right now; people online are guilty until proven innocent...and it's bullshit. Most don't understand the amount of work, time and diligence it takes to produce quality content, especially in-depth analyses like these; and being so quick to denounce is pretty much an insult to all of that work. Anyone with enough of a brain can see that the only real potential "plagiarism" going on is the title, except they are relating to two very different ideas so even that falls short.
The witch-hunting mob-mentality is powerful on the net. Almost always close-minded and uninformed, but powerful. People don't stop to actually think for a second. The video has barely been out for a day and people are all giddy to start pointing fingers and reprimand you. Disappointing. Not surprised (sadly), but utterly disappointed by many of you who fall or fell under this category.
Just keep doing your thing and try not to get bogged down by things like this. Honest people will always receive well back. Keep up the quality work dude, and looking forward to the new things you've got coming.
What I find interesting about the Angier trick is that the first time he kills the one a few metres away and for the trick he kills the one still in the machine. No matter which way round it is, the original Angier is killed at some point, but we never know and in a sense it doesn’t matter, because both are just as much him, and whoever survives has not only murdered himself but is forced to wonder which version will survive.
Nope that was Root, no one was ever cloned the machine didn’t work
@@Davidweedlove In which case TWO doubles were killed. One shot, another drowned.
@@Davidweedlove Nah, don't buy it.
Never paid attention to that one small scene that foreshadows Christian Bale's doppelgänger, his twin. "What happened to its brother?"
One of my favorite films of all time. Beautiful.
This is by far my favorite Nolan film
Yep, that one, together with Uncharted 4.
+Sophia V I do believe Nolan's masterpiece is Inception. But The Prestige is a craftsman at his best.
Sophia V for me it's memento and this one.
Nah, Memento beats them all
Jerel Damon Yeah. But Inception's concept was taken from Paprika a Japanese animated movie by Satoshi Kon.
this dude just analysed and broke down the film without giving any spoilers lol
Nolan practically gives away his clue like crazy, i remember the scene when Fallon was trapped in a coffin by Angier and Cutler
But in the 4 people dinner scene between Borden, Fallon, Olivia, and Sarah, it's Borden that said "i invented a new trick that i was buried in the coffin and then Fallon will dig me" although it was Fallon who supposedly being trapped and Borden who dig him
I picked up on that when rewatching that scene as well, it also explains why he was so irrate when he arrived at dinner because it was actually him who nearly go buried alive and not Fallon. Noticing the mood/personality changes between the twins across different scenes is mind blowing to realise. So effective and also so well acted by Bale.
@@callumo8156 when i first watch Prestige i was like "what is Borden's problem?, sometimes he is a sweetheart sometimes he is an arse" and then when the revelation came and Angier said that he rejected Cutler's theory because he thinks that's too easy i was speechless
"If there's one fundamental theme that suffuses his entire filmography, it's that cinema, as a shared narrative, can be a hugely powerful cultural force"
No shit Sherlock.
+lptomtom lol
The movie dives deep on the themes of obsession (the extent to which Angier was willing to go to uncover Borden's trick) that eventually led to his downfall and sacrifice (the price Borden paid for a good trick). What the Prestige does in addition to what was already mentioned in the video was become a metaphor for the rivalry between Tesla and Edison.
Both wizards of science, highly intellectual and innovative leads that essentially produced magic in the form of science that whose relationship consisted parallel to Borden's and Angier's, featuring harsh rivalries, sabotaging, slander, essential bullying, secrets and stolen ideas/tricks. (Though in The Prestige, these acts are pretty much shared).
Angier obsessed over Borden's secrets, similarly to how Edison obsessed over Tesla's. But while Edison was rich, famous and well-regarded at the time, Tesla sacrificed all these in trade for discovering areas of science that would've stunned our world today (such as allegedly finding a way to provide free energy to the world), if it not for most of his work being destroyed, hence forming the enigma Tesla is today.
ferinate101 idk if this just a random thought or if it was intended, but "Angier" is one letter away from "Anger." I wonder if that was another connection to the obsession. That his anger lead to obsession?
@@HORSESNDOGS9 Damn. Never thought about this. But since you have pointed this out I would say it is on purpose. It is Christopher Nolan. He has been playing tricks with us the whole movie. I guess this is just another one. Thx for the insight :)))
@@HORSESNDOGS9 and it just made me think about Borden and burden :)))))))
@@tonyle4540 omg... that a crazy
@@tonyle4540 Sorry to burst your bubble, but Nolan had nothing to due with that. The Prestige film is based on the book "The Prestige" by Christopher Priest. Angier and Borden were names he gave them in the book. Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan's brother, adapted the screenplay.
The bird murder scene made me want to see the movie... I don't know why.
PlayCreatively it's an extremely good movie, don't take your eyes off the screen!!!!!
if you blink, you miss it.
PlayCreatively It's one of my personal all-time favorite films. Don't miss out on it!!!!!
garner montgomery Well if you say so. It looks intriguing!
if you wanted to see the movie you shouldn't have watched this video -____- alot of spoilers in it already.
I just recently found this channel and I'm amazed at the quality of the video, I'm supervise this guy isn't at 1 million subs already
stop being supervise and start being surprised
lol
True
Klyde Klyde justice has been made
+Bruno Rodrigues "Served," not "made." Justice has now been truly served.
If you really pay attention to this movie it's truly a Masterpiece! Every single element in this movie is perfect. You're given Just enough clues to mislead you to think about one thing but it's really something entirely different. "Slight of Hand" if you will. I LOVE this movie. My mother and I went and seen it when it comes out. I thought it was just going to be another "Magic Movie" but it wasn't I was blown away by everything in this movie. My mother and I STILL talk about this movie to this day. She has her theory about it. and I have Mine.
What are your theories?
yeah, what are your theories? i love discussing theories about this film and generally the nolan films (my favorite director of all time)
Scrody McBoogerballs sleight*
Machine doesn’t work
I love how the bird trick with the one bird dying and the other one showing up at the prestige parallels the magic trick at the end with one Hugh Hackman dying and the other one showing up in the prestige. Brilliant.
Ricky Carrillo it's also a metaphor for Alfred Borden "where is his brother?"
one of the best movies of all time
Not really.
Ryan Grille One of Nolan's best. soo, one of the best contemporary movies. close enough
+Eric Miesbauer One of the best American contemporary movies, I wouldn't list it top 50 for my favorite movies these past 10 years if we count foreign movies
Ace shinigami we get it, you like anime. go live in japan, weeaboo
neither of those things. actually I was thinking of french movies although now that you mention it there have been some good japanese movies that have come out recently
So basically, Angier commits suicide everytime he does the thing in hopes the other Angier continues his work?
yes
No
Angier has no way of knowing if he is gonna drown or not because once you have stepped into the machine you cant tell if youre the Clone or the original. Thats what the line about how It was bravery every time he stepped into the machine. «I didnt know if i was gonna be in the box or the prestige.»
Yep also because he was told that drowning feels like going home and also he wanted to frame Borden
Guys the prestige is a magic trick itself! The machine doesn’t work! He only killed once his double (the drunk guy), so that he could make batman the culprit. The solution is under your eyes, but you donkt want to see it… the scene in which you see the machine working is only told by wolverine to batman… to keep the lie alive exactly how the chinese did with the fish bowl
Not everytime. It's a 50-50 proposition as to whether he lives or dies each time.
Anyone else notice that the canary trick at the very start of the film was basically a parallel to what eventually becomes Angier's "teleportation" trick at the end of the film?
So basically they give away the whole plot in the first fifteen minutes... but you don't realize it until the end of the film.
Nolan is definitely a film director that teaches you that nothing should be taken for granted in a story.
it's from a book for god sake
@@maximea4135 I've read the book and trust me, it's really different from the movie
My mind is blown.... wow dude. Fucking. Amazing!!!!!!!
They give away most of the movie in that first shot.
And yes, within 15 minutes the entire plot is told. We just don’t know it as we want to be fooled.
Could you make a video about Memento?
The prestige is so good, I often forget it's a Nolan film. I kid, don't slay me.
+coquio Do you imply that Nolan is a bad filmmaker?
+Chris V. please, next time write it as
" >implying nolan is a bad filmmaker"
tho he is also
>implying we'd slay him cuz he wrong, which we won't :D of course we won't
... and one of the Borden twins has a scar over his eye, allowing you to tell them apart in any given scene.
Z4RQUON What?! Really?! Crap, you've made me want to watch it again...
SirBungly Do it! It'll blow your mind!
Z4RQUON which twin? The one in love with the wife or the one in love with the assistant?
I think it's the one who is married, just off the top of my head, because I seem to remember one of the best scenes to see it was when he was showing her nephew the trick coin.
Mind blown