The Prestige

This movie was (also) brought to my attention by a 'reel' on Instagram---it is true, I have come to spend more time on Instagram than I used to do in the past. What can you say? It has come fruitful! I guess one can think of it as seeing a trailer. This movie originally came out in 2006 and I had not been informed of its existence until recently. 

The short scene I saw involved an inmate in jail who was being treated harshly and the inmate ended up fooling a guard for which all the other inmates started cheering. I liked this. Sort of a small rebellion. Some jerk being humiliated in front of everyone---a small payment for his bad behaviour. So the movie interested me and I searched for the name of the movie again---you know the deal. 

If you look up this movie and see the director's name and the actor list, you do not need any further convincing to decide to watch the movie. The inmate I mentioned above is played by Christian Bale. Interestingly enough, I have not yet reviewed a movie on this blog starring him yet. It is interesting because I like the actor. Well, I didn't like him as much until 2022, so maybe it's normal.

I did not know that this was a Christopher Nolan movie until the very end of the movie when his name appeared on the screen. This is odd since I had looked up the list of all C. Nolan movies recently and I don't remember seeing this on the list. I guess it happens---I can't remember every single word I read. I must admit, though, when I saw his name on the screen, it all made sense because it was a really good movie. If you think over it a few seconds more you can actually recognize the Nolan style in the movie, although I hadn't noticed it during the movie. Well, now you know it's a Nolan movie, so you might have a different experience with the movie than I did. Or, maybe you have seen the movie and still didn't know the director! Then, maybe you'll share the same thought processes with me. In any case, gentle reader, I hope you are a person who likes Nolan movies.

What did I mean when I said "the Nolan style"? I won't coin this phrase but it's something I just made up. What I try to say with it is the mind-bending aspect of his movies. Nolan is also a director who likes to work with some of the people he already worked with before again---this is another part of his style. Maybe you can guess who I mean here: Christian Bale and Michael Caine. He really keeps casting them! It's as if I am complaining but I really can't because I also like these men. After Nolan worked with M. Caine in Batman Begins, he re-hired Caine in The Prestige, and The Dark Knight (okay, this was the same character), and then Inception, then The Dark Knight Rises, then Interstellar, Dunkirk and Tenet! Here you go, count these and then if you ever go to a trivia night where the question is "How many Christopher Nolan movies did Michael Caine appeared in?", you know the answer! You know, one side of me wants to say, are you just casting your friends? But that's obviously not true, and I highly enjoy Caine's performances in Nolan movies. Similar things happened with Bale but I won't go into much detail here. Maybe another good trivia question would be "how many movies featured both Christian Bale and Michael Caine?". That's a good question. Before I go back to our movie, I'll just mention here Nolan's upcoming movie Oppenheimer. If you check its cast, you can see that it's really promising to be an incredible movie---we'll just have to wait a few more months until it comes out, though.

Back to our movie. If you like psychological thrillers and/or mind-bending movies, you'll like this movie. I should definitely let you know that this movie is not one of those "sit back and relax" movies, it's more like a "sit back and pay attention" movie. You should pay attention to the movie while watching, if you really want to enjoy it. Here's my experience with the movie in terms of the timeline: First half an hour, I found the movie to be boring. Don't stop reading yet though. The next 45 minutes, I started thinking "hmm, maybe this movie is interesting". Then it was really interesting (and I thought "hmm this is a good movie") for the rest until the very end. At the very end, my opinion changed. My verdict was that it was a really good movie. So my advice is that if you watch this movie, don't give up in the first 30 minutes. 

Why was I bored in the first 30 minutes? There might be many factors which determined my mood at that time. However, I think it might be because I didn't find the rivalry of two magicians interesting. This is really about one's own likes. Maybe you do like magicians and maybe you won't find any minute of the movie boring. I think that this movie is one of the examples where the synopsis is very misleading. If you read it, it would say "oh there are two stage magicians and they are in rivalry" which is true in terms of the story. However, there are really a lot more interesting things happening...although I won't give you spoilers. These interesting/weird things don't start right at the beginning, hence my boredom at the beginning.

When you see "psychological thriller" and "mind-bending" in the description of a movie, maybe you already know to expect a plot twist. If you like movies with plot twists, I strongly believe that you will like this movie. Was this a spoiler? I don't think so. You'll see what I mean when you watch the movie. I do enjoy successful plot twists. 

Speaking of a plot twist, I want to talk about Christian Bale's performance/character in this movie. I don't know if you've seen him in American Psycho but I think his character in this movie might have been even more psycho than his character in the movie American Psycho. After the movie ends, you kind of think back and realize some things which are things that left me speechless. I recently saw a part of one of Christian Bale's interviews. He is being asked "how long do the characters stay in your head?" and he answers "Do they ever leave?". I must say, this is really concerning to me after seeing American Psycho. Also, The Prestige even if somehow you don't count American Psycho. So, now, after seeing this interview bit, I think I like Christian Bale a bit less but it is a crystal-clear fact that he is a talented and successful actor.

The movie also features Nikola Tesla which is one of the interesting aspects of the movie. You may wonder: how did Tesla come into this story/movie? Well, I guess you'll have to watch the movie for this or read the plot online (which I don't recommend because it would ruin the movie) but I can tell you this much: in the "olden" times, science was also magic. So here is your connection to Tesla.

Lastly (about actors), and briefly, I will mention Hugh Jackman. If you have been reading my posts, there is a good chance that you already know I like to see Hugh Jackman in movies. It was nice to see him in this movie too. His character was nice and his performance was good (although maybe not spectacular, but that's okay). 

Perhaps it is apt to finish this post by explaining the name of the movie. The association I'd make with the word prestige is definitely not the one the movie meant. Apparently, a magic act has three parts: the pledge, the turn and the prestige---they give this information in the movie, I had no idea before. It says that this last part is crucial to a magic act (or illusion/performance) and without it there is no point of the magic act. In a sense, if this whole movie were an illusion (and it technically is), the last part (or the end of the movie) is The Prestige part and it all makes sense because that's when the audience claps. In fact, I am not making this up, the film makers really tried to structure the screenplay according to this and knowing this actually explains my perception of the movie in three parts as mentioned above. By the way, this movie is actually based on a book, so we shouldn't pass without giving the credit. It is true that the film makers did an excellent job but the story was pretty good to begin with.

If you haven't seen this movie yet, I strongly suggest you see it at your earliest convenience (given that you satisfy at least one of the conditions mentioned above about liking the movie, e.g. if you like Nolan movies).

I give 8/10.

The Father

This was a good movie. However, I must admit that I didn't understand it all and was very confused several times during the movie. But, I think, this was supposed to happen. 

The movie is about a father, as you can probably guess from the name of the movie. The father has dementia and a daughter (as it seems). If you know what dementia is about, then you can guess that the father keeps forgetting things and often lives in a past reality (or perhaps unreality). This part was what was particularly confusing to me, and I believe, to the audience in general. You see certain things happening, there is what the father is saying, and what his daughter is saying. Since you know the father (Anthony Hopkins) has dementia, you first think that the daughter is right (and telling things that are true) and the father should be the one who speaks nonsense sometimes. 

Surprise! After a while, you start questioning---at least I did. You question the reality of the daughter. At times, the father confuses the caregiver for his daughter. At least, that's first what you think. Then, the father makes such statements that you start thinking "well, maybe he was right and the daughter was gaslighting him". Who knows? I still don't know. Nevertheless, I highly enjoyed the movie because I think this confusion was intentional. I think, the film makers wanted to leave the audience with such a complicated state of mind to make them get close to feeling what dementia is like. It was a success. I feel that I did get one step closer to understanding the mind of dementia. At the end of the movie, I still was not certain what was real and what was unreal. So, if you watch the movie and understand everything, please enlighten me! 

The director's cut was important to presenting the layers of a mind with dementia and I think the director of this movie did a very good job on that. 

When it comes to the actors and actresses, the performances were again spectacular. 

Anthony Hopkins, well, he is Anthony Hopkins, so that needs no comment. We knew his performance was going to be great and it is. 

Olivia Colman. I first knew her from the series Broadchurch (which is a really good show by the way, you should watch---it stars David Tennant and it is a detective story and a psychological drama, it is quite intense). After her role in Broadchurch, I started liking her. Then I saw her in a movie called The Lost Daughter which is again a really good movie. I know that she is also in The Crown but I haven't seen The Crown yet---it is way too popular these days, maybe I will get to it in a few years. It is always a pleasant experience to watch her performance and, good news, she will be in the Marvel television series The Secret Invasion (that is, good news, if you like MCU productions and Olivia Colman). I do follow Marvel productions and knowing that she will be in this series makes me more expectant of the series. Also, if you don't know, David Tennant was the 10th doctor in the British series Doctor Who. He is a great actor whom I follow the works of (mostly). If you like podcasts, he does a podcast called David Tennant Does A Podcast for which he took Olivia Colman as his guest for the first episode. It was a quite enjoyable (very British accent-heavy) conversation they had. 

Mark Gatiss. Well, I know him from his roles in both Sherlock and Doctor Who. He was also involved with the writing of some of the episodes of Doctor Who's latest seasons---I don't think he did such a great job but of course it is hard to be better than Steven Moffat. Mark Gatiss is a good actor (and also British) but he is not as great as David Tennant or Olivia Colman in my eyes (or heart). Still, it was nice to see him in this movie.

Watching this movie, even as a (relatively) young person, made me think of the upcoming old age times I have ahead of me. As I said, the movie is quite thought provoking. Perhaps, if I watched this movie in an older age, I would be watching it mostly with horror, who knows?

I must say, there is a ton of movies/series or books on dementia or Alzheimer's, but I think this one sticks out as one of the best so far (among the movie ones). I don't know you, but I enjoy watching movies about people with dementia as they can be mind-bending which is something I often look for in a movie.

In the end, I am quite glad I have seen this movie. They are actually making a prequel to this movie, called The Son, starring Hugh Jackman. I definitely plan to watch this prequel. Will I write a review about it, too? Only time will tell.

I give 9/10.

P.S. This is the 2020 film The Father, not any other, but you could probably make that up by yourself from the list of actors.

A Man Called Ove

This movie was brought to my attention on Instagram while I was scrolling through 'reels'. (Yes, apparently, that's something I do now). Although, I shouldn't have said 'was brought to my attention' because I really had to search for the name of the movie. Basically, someone posted a video of a scene from the movie, I saw that, and I was impressed by the scene. This person did not hashtag the movie! Well, then you go on to comments and try to find someone who is not simply lying (because they do that too), and get the correct name of the movie from there. It must have been quite a scene to have moved me that much and go through all that effort, right? I won't tell you the details of the scene but I can tell you this much: it was at a train station and it involved life-saving. You'll understand which scene this was once you watch the movie.

Okay, then, I searched the movie with that name on the internet, confirmed it existed. Put it on my list, i.e. just kept it in mind---there is no written list. Later, I decided to find this movie so that I can watch it. It wasn't on any platform that I had subscription to. In the end, I found it on a streaming platform (completely legal) and watched it with ads.

That was quite the introduction to my journey leading to this movie. Let's start talking about the movie itself now. The movie is not in English and I think the people in the movie were speaking a bit fast, or the English subtitles in that platform just appeared late and disappeared early, who knows? I was able to read them 99% of the time but still, if you are tired, maybe you don't want to read that fast (and I was tired). I must say, if you are fluent in Swedish you won't need the English subtitles. 

Before going any further, I must also state here that this movie, A Man Called Ove, has won many awards. I won't list them here as you can check that on Wikipedia. It's based on a book of the same name by a Swedish author named Fredrick Backman. I liked the movie a lot but I am not sure if I would read the book. The movie was quite good and I am afraid that if I read the book it might ruin the movie for me (due to all that 'books are always better than the movie adaptation' thing).

Who is Ove? Obviously, he is the main character in the movie. The movie takes place when Ove is an old man but also provides some flashbacks from when he was younger (played by a different actor) to give a better understanding of Ove's personality and, hence, the story. Ove is a lonely person who has nobody. He makes it up to the age of 59 but doesn't want to go anymore after some point. I can see how an old person in Sweden can feel so lonely and would consider suicide for the following reasons. I know that Sweden is a country which historically has had a high suicide rate, the main reason being dark, long winters. But also, their culture has a great effect on it too. I don't know Swedish culture very well but suicide may not be perceived the same as in other cultures. Additionally, I personally believe that the fact that they have an individualistic society also has a huge impact on getting lonelier as you get old.

Back to the movie. The reason why Ove wanted to commit suicide was not the weather. As I mentioned above, it is loneliness. And, there is a reason why I wrote the previous paragraph. As the movie progresses, there are certain factors that come into play and help Ove overcome his loneliness (and ruin his suicide attempts). For example, there is a new neighbour. This neighbour is Persian. I strongly believe that the author chose the nationality of this neighbour on purpose. In the end, I believe this movie depicts the outcomes of individualism/collectivism in the context of loneliness with regards to suicide. It is due to the collectivist nature of the Persian neighbour's culture that Ove starts getting a sense of belonging and feeling connected to others.

Now, enough about suicide. The movie is actually not that dark. It is categorized as a comedy-drama. I would say, though, the comedy part is a bit like a dark comedy, at least to me. There were many moments I laughed and some of them were maybe for things that are actually sad.

I highly enjoyed the personality of Ove. He is an old person and from a completely different culture than mine, but I found many common traits between him and me. He is a grumpy man (giving others a hard time) but there were moments I was still on his side because I thought he was right (although it seemed like nonsense). By the way, I didn't mean the grumpiness when I said 'common traits', but who knows, maybe it is among them---I can definitely be grumpy sometimes. I believe anyone who watches this movie will find something in Ove from themselves (either from their lives or personalities, or both).

Okay, I can't finish this review without mentioning the remake of this movie. It's a movie called "A Man Called Otto". Now, there is a good movie and of course the US had to make it again because they know it will bring money. They see a good movie and they feel the urge to Hollywoodize it. Maybe you can tell from the tone that I am not exactly happy they remade this movie. What they did is they changed the name of the characters (it's still based on the book I mentioned above) for English ones and chose Tom Hanks as the lead actor. I haven't seen this movie yet---and I am not sure if I ever will. I am sure they also changed the brand of one of the cars in the movie (spoilers). I hope they didn't change the nationality of the neighbour because there is a reason why it was chosen that way. From what I can tell without watching the movie, I think they changed it to a Mexican person, which might still work, i.e. make sense, because Mexico also has a collectivist culture. Nevertheless, I still think it should have stayed as someone with the Middle Eastern culture. The movie is probably still pretty good because it's still based on the same successful story and Tom Hanks is a good actor but I'd recommend sticking to the original one---A Man Called Ove (2015). 

I just mentioned Tom Hanks being a good actor, I shouldn't conclude without saying that the performance of the actor who played Ove (Rolf Lassgård) was also outstanding---he actually won a best actor award for it too. Among the awards this movie has received, there is one that's for makeup and hairstyling, which I don't quite get why.

I give 9/10.