movies and "background" ghost in you

recently i watched a series of films from a random selection.

the prestige
as much as i hate to admit this is the best movie of 2006 in my opinion and i am not a movie savvy or anything. nevertheless, i find the story original, not until i heard there was a parallel movie released almost at the same time called The Illusionist, i want to watch that too. Anyway, the originality lies in the rival story of the two magicians, Angier and Alfredo played by two good actors Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale. It tackles not really how extraordinary magicians are but more on the universal theme of human nature. The recurring theme of obsession and selfishness were portrayed marvelously with each step that the magicians took from stealing tricks, destroying wives, physical bodily damage and fatal plots just to make sure the other suffers. Isn't it true that there is this uncanny nature that we hate the guts of people who are happy while we sit in a corner in misery. of course we would want the utopic world where everyone is happy but then we'd prefer that everyone is in misery if we cant all be happy, right? that's what you call selfish and i think it is the currency of the world.

now with regards to the technical aspect of the film, the flashbacks were confusing. but i chose to look at it as a mind boggler. while watching the film it makes us watch out for what is realy the present time, thus making us literally part of the race led by the two protagonists. i would commend the foreshadowing sof the story in tis most witty manner. i especially liked that part with the boy crying over the bird trick because he knew the magicians used two birds not one, he was crying looking for the dead brother of the bird. The mystery of the story unfolded right in front of this foreshadowed scene. there were two not one.



the portrayal of Jackman and Bale were superb. This maybe biased but the stereotyped "charmer" and "talented" exuded in there personas respectively. it was just funny that one friend commented how come the movie's title was not "the transported man" and not the prestige, which in my opinion makes a whole lot of sense. the whole movie had this irritating reiteration of the transported man as the absolute trick the world and magic will ever know. later how whimsical it was that cience was all responsible for this magic. the paradox of science juxtaposed to magic where we are supposed to see the things unexplained by scienc and not made by it. haha. the whole story was like a tapestry where evry detail was unfolded intricately at the right moment creatig=ng a grand picture by the end of the film. although the story was just, i must say in the end. and as a sign of all great movies the only thing i thought of after the credits ran through the theater screen, "i want to watch it agin". if not again and agian. =D