Are You Watching Closely?

Last night Claire and myself went over to hang out at Noels place for a few hours. With nothing much to do for the evening, we decided to watch "The Prestige", which Hazel had picked up on DVD. I love the movie, having had the extreme pleasure of seeing it in a crowded cinema, and was happy to watch it again, knowing the outcome and watching for clues.

About half and hour in I realised I was the only one in the room who had seen it! Noel, Hazel and Claire all missed it in the cinema. I was the only one aware of how it all fell together.

So we all sat in silence and took in the master storytelling, the crisp cinematography and the stunning acting. We enjoyed the twists and turns, the jumps back and forth between characters reading about characters reading diary's, the shifts in loyalties and friendships, the pledge, the turn and the prestige.

Maybe it was the fact that I was so wrapped up in the story when I saw it the first time, or maybe that I hadn't heard anything about the movie before seeing it; maybe it was that I foolishly didn't expect there to be a twist, or that when we got one, I thought that was it, but whatever it was, when I first saw "The Prestige", I didn't see the ending coming at all. Last night, the others had the big reveal twigged from the start! I'm not going to clarify what that is here, that would be ridiculous. Just watch the damned movie if you haven't already. It's great fun, even if you get nothing else from it. I will say that if, like the others last night, you do figure it all out early on, then the movie can still be eminently enjoyable. It graduates from "What's going to happen?" to "How is it going to happen?" and both are equally as entertaining to see play out.

I loved seeing the movie a second time. All the little threads from throughout the story reveal themselves far more clearly.

We have also decided that Christopher Nolan should be hired to bring the joy of Dirk Gently to the silver screen. Admittedly, the humour of the series isn't what Chris is known for, but who better than the man that gave us Memento and The Prestige to direct the twists and turns of Dirks adventures??

While "researching" (thank you Wikipedia) about Nolan and Gently I discovered that Nolan is bringing the old British series "The Prisoner" to the big screen and the wonderful BBC have commissioned a radio play of Dirk Gently to be broadcast as three series of six episodes each, the first airing in October of this very year! Better yet, a guy named Dirk Mags is in charge, and I've heard his radio plays of "Batman: Knightfall" and "Superman: Doomsday and Beyond". I have every faith that these new radio plays will rock as much as his other work.

I am so happy right now, nothing could ruin this day... what's that?? Essays, you say? Nope. Sorry. Won't work. I'll do them tomorrow. No money? Meh. I'll survive. Nothing good in the cinema? I have DVDs. I have to wait seven months to hear the radio plays? Ok. Shut up now.