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    The Prestige

    Reviewed by
    robbinemail@

    A rather confusing tale of two magicians who would rather sabotage each others stage performances than simply focus on their own careers and their own tricks. All the hi-jinx doesn’t seem to affect the reputations of either magician has each gets more famous as time passes so one wonders why each had so many problems with each other. My problem with this picture is all the jumping between scenes from the characters past and present. The time jumping made it hard to follow what was really going on. Some of the dialogue between characters added to my confusion. Equally bizarre is the story is set in 19th century London, England and Colorado Springs, Colorado. 2006 seemed to be the year for movies about magic and illusion, this is not the best one, The Illusionist is a much better picture..

    5
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    robbinemail@  6.1.2007 age: 50+ 154 reviews

    The illusionist is little league by comparison, though I'd agree it's simple less thought-provoking traditional Hollywood plot is easier to follow. The complex narrative of The Prestige is masterfully interwoven with the development of character epiphany's, and the use of 'chronology-jumping' throughout the film allows it to play out like a magic trick with the information dolled out to the audience like a magician performing an illusion. The prestige accurately portrays magic (aside from the Tesla factor) whereas the illusionist is pure fantasy. As the voice over states in the opening of the film," are you watching closely? " If you're not, the film will fly by overhead and without following along any of the reveals, character reversals or revelations the film has to offer won't resonate, or may appear typical, or even contrived. Since Nolan stormed onto the scene with Momento he's played with and become master of non-linear storytelling. I can understand how it could be confusing to some, as I witnessed just recently. My Grandmother being baffled by the structure of this film finding it difficult to follow. My mother on the other hand was thoroughly engaged and had no trouble following the chronology jumping and immediately grasped the intent of the filmmaker. Perhaps it's a generational or experiential in understanding this non-linear narrative thing, although I'd find that rather surprising considering it appears you've seen many films and aren't that old. The consensus on this film and it's filmmaker is that they'll both challenge and respect the audiences ability to keep up, which I find refreshing in comparison to the glut of formulaic dumbed-down re-hashed crap Hollywood typically produces. If I were you I'd give it another shot, unless the non-linear thing just isn't your thing.

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    ca62peter@  17.4.2010 age: 26-35 12 reviews

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