THE PRESTIGE

 

Publicity poster for The Prestige (© Christopher Nolan/Touchstone Pictures/Warner Bros Pictures/Newmarket Films/Syncopy/Buena Vista Pictures Distribution – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My movie watch on 13 April 2022 was the fascinating sci fi/fantasy thriller The Prestige, one of the best films that I have viewed in a very long time, and truly magical in every sense of the word.

Directed, co-produced, and its screenplay co-written by Christopher Nolan, released internationally by Warner Bros in 2006, and based upon the 1995 titular Christopher Priest novel, The Prestige pits two early 20th-Century London-based stage magicians, Robert Angier (played by Hugh Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Christian Bale), against one another in an intense rivalry based upon increasingly obsessive one-upmanship, each desperate to outdo the other, whatever the cost.

Angier and Borden begin their careers as friends, working together in the same act, until Angier's wife Julia drowns on stage inside a water tank after being unable to untie the problematic type of knot that Borden has obstinately used on her, despite having been warned against it by their very experienced mentor John Cutter (Michael Caine). Angier blames Borden, and they become implacable enemies thereafter. Establishing their own separate, rival acts (Angier as The Great Danton, still working with Cutter; Borden as The Professor, working with the mysterious Bernard Falon), they ruthlessly sabotage and out-compete each other's tricks at every available opportunity, as a result of which Angier is partially crippled and Borden has a finger blown off.

Their deadly confrontations culminate (and fulminate!) with a visually sensational trick devised by Borden and called by him 'The Transported Man', in which he enters one wardrobe and then almost instantaneously steps out from inside another one placed at some distance away from the first. Angier is desperate to discover the secret to this extraordinary illusion, but Borden skillfully fools him into setting forth on a wild transatlantic goose chase to America, in order to visit none other than the contentious Serbo-American scientist Nikola Tesla (and played by none other than David Bowie, employing an intriguing Scottish accent!) at his laboratory in Colorado Springs. Here he is aided in his highly controversial, explosive experiments in electricity and magnetism by his loyal assistant Mr Alley (Andy Serkis).

However, Borden's cruel scheme unexpectedly backfires when Tesla creates for Angier a machine that will duplicate Borden's trick, and in an even more spectacular manner – but at a terrible cost, yet one that Angier is willing to pay in order to surpass Borden's act.

As a movie whose theme is sleight-of-hand stage magic, do not be surprised to learn that nothing in The Prestige is what it seems to be, most especially the true explanations for the two magicians' respective versions of 'The Transported Man'. Borden's involves a traditional but ingeniously-executed deception, whereas Angier's is something else entirely, as you'd expect from anything created by Tesla. Having said that, I've actually included a subtle clue as to the latter's incredible modus operandi here in this mini-review – did you spot it? And, if you need a clue for Borden's, thinking about anagrams is the name of the game…or the game of the name!

The Prestige is a superb, wonderfully entertaining movie, which kept me totally captivated throughout its 2-hr 10-minute running time. It includes excellent performances by all four of its leading cast members (Scarlett Johansson being the fourth, appearing as Olivia, a double-agent love interest between the two magicians), as well as some exciting special effects, especially within Tesla's classic 'mad scientist' laboratory, whose evocative design incorporates some dramatic steampunk visuals.

Josh Hartnett was apparently considered for the role of Angier, but Jackman's powerful rendition of this embittered character, driven half-crazy by his wife's needless death at the hands of Borden and hell-bent upon avenging her, is absolutely perfect, as poignant as it is chilling, especially when the twin voices of conscience and reason beseeching him inside his head become increasingly stilled as his mania escalates swiftly and surely towards its inevitable, catastrophic conclusion.

Adhering to the sacred traditions of stage magic, I'll say no more, but the closing scenes, when all is finally revealed, are as visually breathtaking as they are shocking – their stark, unforgettable images exposing the horrific depths to which the rivals have sunk in order to achieve each other's total destruction, yet little realising how this will impact upon their own survival. Or, to put it another way: what goes around, comes around.

Last but certainly not least: if you don't already know what a prestige is in the particular context of prestidigitation ('prestige' deriving from 'praestigium', the Latin word for 'trick'), you need to watch this movie – all will be revealed, or will it? But if you can't wait that long, here is Cutter's own explanation of it:

Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called "The Pledge". The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course... it probably isn't. The second act is called "The Turn". The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it, because of course you're not really looking. You don't really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough; you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call "The Prestige".

If you'd like to conjure forth a tantalizing glimpse of the spellbinding sights and incongruous illusions that await you in The Prestige, be sure to click here to view an official trailer for this dark, twisted, yet mesmerizingly macabre, magical film on YouTube.

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

THE SIN EATER (aka THE ORDER)

 

My official UK DVD of The Sin Eater (© Brian Helgeland/20^th Century Fox – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

The things that you learn from movies! Until I watched this present film on 8 May 2022, I was totally unaware of the extraordinary concept of sin eaters and the corresponding practice of sin-eating – the sin eater being a person who ritually eats a meal that has symbolically absorbed the sins of a recently-deceased person, and is thereby deemed to be carrying the sins of that person. Sin eaters who perform such rituals on a regular basis are thus believed to carry all of the sins of all of those recently-deceased persons, and as a consequence are generally feared and shunned by other people. From what I have since read about this fascinating religious folk-belief, it was formerly particularly prevalent in Wales and English/Welsh border counties, but in the fantasy/horror film under review here it is presented as a heretical practice in Roman Catholicism, and the film itself is set in Rome.

Directed, co-produced, and written by Brian Helgeland, and released by 20^th Century Fox in 2003, The Sin Eater (aka The Order) significantly extends the sin eater concept, via this movie's central premise that a person can actually circumvent the normal manner of ensuring that their soul goes to Heaven upon death (i.e. by living a good, sinless life). Instead, they can lead an evil, sinful life, but upon the point of death they then have all of their sins absorbed – literally eaten – by someone else, the appointed sin eater, after which they reach Heaven with a pure, sin-absolved soul, with the sin eater carrying the foul essence of their evil within himself instead.

The greatly-missed Heath Ledger, one of my favourite actors, stars in The Sin Eater as Father Alex Bernier, a member of the fictitious Carolingian Order of Roman Catholic priests whose speciality is confronting and overcoming evil supernatural entities on the Church's bidding. Alex is already questioning his own faith when he receives unexpected, highly disturbing news – Father Dominic (Francesco Carnelutti), his mentor and the Carolingian Order's head, has been found dead inside his Rome domicile. Moreover, his death is deemed suspicious, both by the police and (particularly) by the Church – so much so, in fact, that Alex is swiftly dispatched to Rome to investigate the incident by the eminent figure of Cardinal Driscoll (Peter Weller), a favourite to become the next Pope.

After arriving and examining Dominic's corpse at the morgue, Alex discovers strange markings upon it, which, when assisted in his investigations by fellow Carolingian priest and longstanding friend Father Thomas Garrett (Mark Addy), are revealed to be the signs that a sin eater places there during a sin-eating ritual. They also discover from his personal archive of ancient books and esoteric manuscripts that Dominic had been extensively involved in researching arcane, forbidden lore, which had ultimately led to his being ex-communicated by the Catholic Church.

After Cardinal Driscoll is informed of their findings, he personally visits Alex and Thomas in Rome, in order to present them with a sacred silver dagger specifically used for killing sin eaters when wielded while chanting an Aramaic incantation; once again they had learned all of this from Dominic's occult library.

So what happens now? SPOILER ALERT!! If you don't want to know, read no further!

To cut a very complex, convoluted story short (or relatively so!): Alex and Thomas visit a sinister masked figure dubbed the Black Pope holding court in hidden catacomb-like chambers beneath a night club, who extracts the information that they require, if they are to succeed in locating the sin eater, by the singularly diabolical method of hanging three captive prisoners there and listening to their last utterances before they die (the disconcerting notion being that those about to meet their deaths are privy to cryptic information not available to the living). When Alex and Thomas attempt to leave the Black Pope's obscene den of iniquity following this unholy, accursed ceremony, however, Thomas is attacked by a demon, but is rescued by Alex.

While Thomas recuperates in hospital, Alex finally tracks down and meets the sin eater – a young-looking man named William Eden (Benno Fürmann). In reality, however, Eden turns out to be several centuries old, his sin-eating activities having bestowed perpetual youth upon him ever since he willingly became a sin eater in the late 1500s, when still only a child, in order to ensure that the soul of his beloved older brother, a good man who had just been killed in an accident during the construction of the great dome of St Peter's basilica, would go to Heaven; a priest had vindictively excommunicated him some time previously for having mercifully saved the life of a prostitute.

Eden also informs Alex that Dominic had been dying and had therefore purposefully requested him to perform a sin-eating ritual, in order to cancel out the sins polluting Dominic's soul from his dabbling in the dark arts and other heretical activities that had earned his excommunication by the Church.

Now, however, Eden has grown tired of sin-eating, and weary of life itself, fervently seeking release, desiring his own death at long last, after attending and administering his soul-cleansing powers to those of so many persons down through the countless years, all of whom, with the sole exception of his brother, had been evil and did not deserve a route to Heaven but had paid him well to provide them with one. Eden pleads with Alex to stab him with the dagger as Alex had intended, thereby releasing Eden's own soul and freeing it at last from the heavy burden of sins absorbed from those of others – but Alex finds himself unable to do the necessary deed. However, he gains first-hand knowledge of what the sin-eating ritual entails, by assisting Eden as he performs it upon yet another dying person who has sought his services (and who like the numerous others before him is willing to pay him handsomely for them), another lifelong sinner anxious to rid his soul of the wickedness that it has accrued.

Afterwards, Alex departs, leaving a desperate Eden behind. So Eden murders a young woman, Mara (Shannyn Sossamon), with whom Alex has fallen in love and is planning to quit the priesthood to be with, but he makes it look as if she has committed suicide by slitting her wrists, then leaves her body to be found by a distraught Alex. As suicide is deemed a mortal sin by the Church, Alex conducts the sin-eating ritual upon Mara's newly-deceased body, so that her soul can enter Heaven – only to discover to his horror that none of the sins that he absorbs from her include the sin of suicide. Alex then realizes that Eden has murdered her, in order to goad Alex into taking revenge by killing him in return, which is exactly what Eden so eagerly craves, an end to his hitherto endless life.

Nevertheless, when Alex tracks Eden down again, his all-consuming desire to avenge Mara is too great to be denied, as is needed if he is to thwart Eden's plan, So Alex duly stabs him with the silver dagger while reading out the Aramaic incantation. Crucially, however, what Alex and Thomas had failed to discover while researching sin-eating was that when a sin eater is stabbed to death, all of his sin-eating powers and all of the sins that he has absorbed down through his immensely-extended life as a sin eater are directly transferred to whoever has killed him, transforming his killer into his replacement – i.e. becoming a new sin eater. So this is precisely what happens to Alex when he kills Eden. Eden is dead, but Alex is now a sin eater in his place, containing all of the sins that Eden had previously contained.

One other shattering discovery is also made – the identity of the evil Black Pope figure, who is exposed as being none other than Cardinal Driscoll! Alex swiftly makes this devastating fact public, instantly destroying Driscoll's entire career in the Church, let alone his chances of becoming Pope. Consequently, Driscoll chooses to commit suicide, and just before the point of death he commands Alex as the new sin eater to absorb all of his previous vile, foul sins, as well as his final sin of suicide, so that his absolved soul can go to Heaven – but Alex refuses. Instead of eating the ritual wafer containing Driscoll's host of absorbed sins, Alex rams it down Driscoll's throat, choking him, and thus condemning the soul of the terrified Cardinal to eternal infernal damnation.

The movie ends with Alex vowing to become a very different sin eater from his predecessor, Eden. Instead of absorbing the sins of evildoers and being paid very handsomely by them in return for his soul-purging actions (as Eden was), he will only perform the sin-eating ritual upon those who have led good lives but have been unjustly condemned by the Church, like Eden's brother had been.

The above summary is a greatly-simplified retelling of the storyline for The Sin Eater, whose many twists and turns kept me thoroughly engrossed throughout. Interestingly, neither Heath Ledger nor Benno Fürmann were the first choices to play their respective roles (Antonio Banderas and Vincent Cassel were). However, Ledger's performance as the disillusioned, unhappy priest Alex is riveting and Fürmann bestows upon his enigmatic sin eater Eden a captivating combination of serpentine charisma and genuine pathos. Moreover, the sickening acts perpetrated within the Black Pope's depraved subterranean realm are truly horrific.

Yet for me, the most chilling component of this fantasy/horror movie takes the form of two small children, a boy and a girl, who are first seen squatting on the floor just outside the main door of Dominic's dwelling at the beginning of the movie. These 'children' are playing a game on the ground in a lethargic, desultory manner, their heads slouched down, but when Dominic arrives they look up at him, revealing grey, otherworldly faces and black eyes that radiate palpable evil!

They are still there when Alex arrives after learning of Dominic's death, and he wonders out loud who – or what – spawned them, evidently suspecting them to be directly related to Dominic's occult experiments. Not long afterwards, moreover, he receives an affirmative response to his query when he encounters them again, this time at night in a graveyard, whereupon they transform into demonic entities who seek to attack him, but are warded off when he wields his crucifix in their direction.

Nor is that momentous event these terrifying twins' final appearance – but I'll leave you to discover that for yourself, if you watch this very engrossing and highly unusual, original movie, which I definitely recommend that you do.

To pay a brief visit to the unsettling but fascinating netherworld of The Sin Eater, be sure to click here in order to watch an official trailer for this macabre yet mesmerizing movie on YouTube.

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

MUNE: GUARDIAN OF THE MOON

 

Publicity poster for Mune: Guardian of the Moon © Alexandre Heboyan/Benoît Philippon/On Animation Studios/Onyx Films/Kinology/Orange Studio/Paramount Pictures/GKIDS/Universal Pictures – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

My movie watch on 2 May 2022 was the thoroughly delightful French 3D/2D computer-animated fantasy film Mune: Guardian of the Moon (=Mune, le Gardien de a  Lune).

Directed by Alexandre Heboyan and Benoît Philippon (with Philippon also providing the original idea that he and Jérôme Fansten then developed into a dialogue-containing movie format), it was originally released in France in 2015 by Paramount Pictures. In 2017, it was then released in the States by GKIDS (and by Universal Pictures internationally), with an English-dubbed cast that includes Rob Lowe and Christian Slater.

Mune: Guardian of the Moon  tells the captivating story of a small planet far away in which the sun has its own guardian, and so too does the moon. On the day when the two old guardians are ceremonially replaced by two new ones, the moon side of the planet's purest creature, a kind of lunar ewe, does not choose the expected humanoid figure, Leeyoon (voiced by Slater), to be the new moon guardian but instead selects a small, inexperienced, blue rodent-like entity named Mune (Joshua J. Ballard).

Unfortunately, however, Mune's inevitable inexperience and timidity cause all manner of disasters at the beginning of his reign, much to the exasperation of Sohone (voiced by Lowe), the new super-confident sun guardian. But soon they face even worse issues when an embittered former sun guardian, Necross (Davey Grant), now inhabiting the Underworld and volcanic in form, steals the sun and plans to destroy it.

Much to their initial mutual disgust, Sohone and Mune, together with a candlewax girl named Glim (Nicole Provost) who is very knowledgeable about the ancient laws, find themselves working together to rescue the sun, defeat Necross, and fix the earlier damage caused to the moon by Mune.

The story itself thereby follows the tried and trusted path of learning to work together, respect one another's talents and differences, become friends etc. But what makes this magical movie stand out so emphatically from such all-too-familiar film fare are its highly imaginative, creative visuals (including the sun and moon being towed through the sky by a pair of gigantic creatures plodding across their respective halves of the planet), but especially the imagery of the planet's lunar half, whose fauna is truly surreal yet also exquisitely designed. I've seen reviews of this film that have likened it to a youngster's version of Avatar, and I understand why after watching it.

Equally, however, as I can personally verify, there is much to enjoy in this movie for adults too, particularly its strange luminous beauty and haunting ethereal music. Mune: Guardian of the Moon is an absolute delight – I loved it!

If you'd like to acquaint yourself with the charismatic dream-like world of Mune and Sohone, be sure to click here in order to view an official Mune: Guardian of the Moon trailer on YouTube.

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

MR HORATIO KNIBBLES

 

Publicity photograph for Mr Horatio Knibbles (© Robert Hird/Anvil Film & Recording Group/Children's Film Foundation – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

As many of you now know, I'm always on the lookout not only for strange, little-known cryptids (mystery animals) in my longstanding career as a cryptozoological investigator and author but also for strange, little-known films in my equally longstanding enthusiasm for all matters movie-related – and on Saturday morning, 21 May 2022, I happened to discover a fascinating example of the two in one! For that was when the retro-specialising UK TV channel Talking Pictures screened an enchanting yet nowadays all-but-forgotten Children's Film Foundation-associated rarity entitled Mr Horatio Knibbles.

Directed by Robert Hird, with a screenplay by Peter Blackmore (from an original story by Wally Bosco), produced by Anvil Film & Recording Group for the Children's Film Foundation (aka CFF, a non-profit UK organization that produced or sponsored short movies for children from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s), and released in 1970 (or 1971 – sources differ), Mr Horatio Knibbles is a thoroughly delightful, whimsical fantasy movie. Its title character (played by Anthony Sheppard) happens to be an avuncular 6-ft-tall ever-hungry white rabbit (which may explain why his surname is pronounced 'Nibbles'). He is always dressed very nattily in jacket, waistcoat, watch chain, trousers, and top hat (and is therefore reminiscent of portrayals of the White Rabbit in various live-action Alice in Wonderland movies). However, he is invisible and inaudible to everyone except for a lonely young girl named Mary Bunting (Lesley Roach), who loves rabbits and desperately wants a pet one for her rapidly-approaching birthday, but is steadfastly refused by her kindly yet rabbit-averse parents (Bernard Horsfall and Jane Jordan Rogers).

After Mr Knibbles appears to a sad Mary, they have all sorts of amusing, innocent adventures together in the nearby woods where Mr Knibbles lives that cheer her up immensely, but thoroughly baffle and bemuse her disbelieving parents and in particular her somewhat bullish brother Tom (Gary Smith), who cannot see her new friend. Inevitably, therefore, they assume that Mary is either letting her imagination run riot or is telling them outright fibs.

Mary even claims that she has written to Mr Knibbles, addressing her letter to him at Rhododendron Manor, The Woods, Local, and posting it in a hollow tree log where a squirrel collects the mail each day at 3 pm sharp (provided of course that the postage has been paid for in nuts!). So her father decides to put an end to this nonsense by concealing himself near to said tree log just before 3 pm, totally confident that the highly unlikely scenario alleged by Mary will not take place – only to be thoroughly startled, however, when a squirrel does indeed appear, pulls out a letter from the log, and passes it to a bird who flies off with it!

Mary's birthday arrives, and she invites Mr Knibbles to her party. Due, however, in no small way by a small girl named Nancy (Rachel Brennock) who is Mary's somewhat hysterical friend, given to unnerving ear-piercing shrieking like a banshee at the slightest provocation (and especially so after Mr Knibbles agrees to become visible for her as well as Mary), he decides to take shelter for a while inside an empty water barrel, where he goes to sleep – only for the water barrel to be sealed and taken away as it had been leaking. Mary and her friend finally succeed in reclaiming it (assisted hilariously by PC Briggs (Fred Evans), a somewhat simple but good-hearted policeman, who is actually able to see Mr Knibbles due to his own love for rabbits), but when Mary tells her father that it contains her giant furry friend he angrily and dismissively declares that it is empty.

In despair, Mary calls out to Mr Knibbles inside the barrel, pleading with him to promise to appear to everyone present if the barrel is opened, which Mr Knibbles readily agrees to do. Although he cannot hear Mr Knibbles's words, Mary's father reluctantly decides to open it, to confirm once and for all to Mary and all of her birthday party guests there that Mr Knibbles is just a figment of her imagination – only of course for a now-visible, audible Mr Knibbles to duly if delicately extricate himself from the barrel (he is rather rotund!), amazing his human audience.

All ends well, with Mr Knibbles giving Mary a very special birthday present – a fluffy white pet rabbit (of normal size, thankfully!) – before bidding her a fond farewell for the time being, revealing that he is going off on holiday to Australia, but promising to visit her again when he returns home.

Needless to say, the premise of Mr Horatio Knibbles readily recalls Mary Chase's classic 1944 play Harvey (and to a much lesser extent Donnie Darko!) plus the three subsequent movies based upon it (the most famous of which is the first one, starring James Stewart and released in 1950). By being aimed at children, however, and produced over 50 years ago, it is much more light-hearted, gentle, and thoroughly endearing, yet without being cloy or twee (it is also a visual treat, filmed in vibrant colours and beautiful settings).

Indeed, for some years after its release in 1971, Mr Horatio Knibbles proved very popular with children of all ages (not to mention, I strongly suspect, a fair few adults too!), and was often shown on TV here in the UK, especially at Christmas time. However, because it features generally polite, largely well-behaved, quintessentially middle-class English children, and is set in the kind of idyllic early 1970s rural England that probably never truly existed except in movies like this one, it may well be deemed dated and even un-PC by various modern-day factions nowadays, thereby explaining why such a lovely little movie (only an hour long) has unjustly sunk into almost total obscurity.

Consequently, although quite some time ago I'd watched a few excerpts from it on YouTube, I never expected to view Mr Horatio Knibbles in its entirety, so I was very pleased indeed to catch it a couple of days ago on Talking Pictures, where I hope that it will be regularly repeated hereafter. After going AWOL from terrestrial TV for far too long, it is high time that this magical film's long-eared, mangelwurzel-munching star is introduced to new and future generations of youngsters – given such an opportunity, they will, I'm sure, be just as enthralled by Mr Knibbles as their parents and grandparents were, all those many years ago.

If you'd like to view some excerpts from Mr Horatio Knibbles currently present on YouTube, be sure to click here to view its opening scene, here to view its closing scene, plus here, and here. Moreover, it is now available to purchase in DVD format as part of a CFF nine-movie bumper DVD box set released by the British Film Institute (BFI).

To view a complete chronological listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE, and please click HERE to view a complete fully-clickable alphabetical listing of them.

 

A scene from Mr Horatio Knibbles in which he appears (invisibly except to Mary) with Tom (in tan-coloued jumper) and his friends, plus Mary alongside him and her mother sitting on a bench in the background watching them (© Robert Hird/Anvil Film & Recording Group/Children's Film Foundation – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)