| Author | Message | ||
     John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.137.108.144 |
I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned anywhere on here as it was released over a week ago. It's Duncan Jones' follow-up to his rather good 'Moon' and stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a man having to relive the same eight minutes on a train that's destined to explode so he can find the bomber. We saw it last week and it was so good it makes The Adjustment Bureau seem merely okay. Needless to say there's a lot more going on here than a simple race against time plot, and even though it's set in the US and was actually filmed in Montreal there's a very British feel to the underlying subtexts of loneliness and isolation that makes this the best science fiction picture I've seen in a long long time (and yes I liked it more than Inception or The Prestige). I hope I haven't oversold it (and I suppose I probably have now) but it's really worth a look. | ||
| Jamie Rosen (Jamie) Username: Jamie Registered: 11-2008 Posted From: 99.241.220.139 |
My brother, who has a degree in Film Studies and works for a film festival, has raved about this movie since it came out. Between the two of you, you may have convinced me to see it -- which is saying something, because the bloody commercials made it look like crap. | ||
| John Forth (John) Username: John Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 82.24.1.217 |
Went to see this last weekend, John, and thought it was fantastic. A great mix of concept, character drama, and action. Ten times the film Inception was as far as I'm concerned. | ||
| Frank (Frank) Username: Frank Registered: 09-2008 Posted From: 85.222.86.21 |
I put a trailer up here ages ago. Yes, the trailer is rather soppy looking, but I'm now relieved to hear that it's doing the business. | ||
| John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert) Username: John_l_probert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.137.108.144 |
Oddly enough it was the trailer that turned us on to it, simply because of the potential the plotline offered, and of course the fact that we both loved 'Moon'. While the movie was running I was trying to think of a term to describe the kind of subgenre it belongs to and the best I could come up with was that Jones does quite brilliant 'Silent Running' movies, which no-one else has managed to do for a very long time. I hope it does really well for him. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 2.24.28.87 |
Just seen this film and really loved it. Contrary to Stevie's evaluation on another thread, I felt the ending was what made it more than just another clever SF film with high production values: the ending identifies the 'speculative moment' and takes the viewer through an ambitious rethink that intensifies the humanist sensibility of the film. Skilful imagery and Jake Gyllenhaal at his most empathic make this a really memorable film. It reduced me to tears. But then, so does the speaking clock. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.19.77 |
And there was me thinking you liked your stories bleak, Joel!  It is a marvellous piece of high concept sci-fi, memorably constructed and performed but... **** SPOILERS **** I still think the ending was a Hollywood schmaltz cop-out that didn't chime with the grim intensity of the rest of the movie. I'd have had it end with the frozen kiss and left out the whole twee coda section. Just my opinion of course but shorn of those final few minutes this would have been a minor masterpiece. As it is the film still stands out as another exceptional piece of modern science fiction with brains and heart. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 2.24.19.122 |
Stevie, if it had ended as you suggest, I think intellectually that would have been less satisfying. The real kick of the ending is what happens at the control centre, and what it means. As with Moon, Jones' vision is dialectical: history shapes people, but people also shape history. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
The final few minutes only make sense as some kind of imagined perfect heaven for Gyllenhaal's character which may be possible if we accept the theory of infinite multiple universes but for the trick to work the filmmaker should have made this clear. Also the events back at the (I must say brilliantly realised) control centre throw the whole premise into an illogical loop that completely negates the very soul of the Sean character (you know, the poor schmuck on the train). In one way the ending could be construed as the ultimate existential horror... to be replaced in reality by another individual moulding their own selfish heaven to your utter negation!!  This was the kind of thing we spent a happy evening discussing after the film - always a good sign of a great work, no matter how flawed. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 217.37.199.45 |
Good point, Stevie. But I'll stick with my  . It's that or become the [SPOILER ALERT] architect of 'rubble'. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
But then in many another parallel universe something went wrong and the bomb never exploded in the first place so Sean went on to live an infinite number of very happy lives! So smiley face back in place. Unless.. hmmmm... | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 2.24.10.184 |
My mother pointed out that the theory of time suggested by this film is similar to that proposed by J.W. Dunne in An Experiment With Time and explored dramatically by J.B. Priestley in 'Time and the Conways'. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 194.32.31.1 |
Having had precognitive dreams myself, Joel, to the point of no longer being phased by them, I have a lot of time for Dunne's theory. So much so in fact that to me it sounds like sheer common sense. I have expounded similar theories on here many's a time as I'm sure you're all tiresomely aware lol. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.31.24.131 |
>>>I have a "lot of time" for Dunne's theory. Oh don't. You slay me. | ||
| Weber (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 194.176.105.47 |
I saw this last night and really enjoyed it. I think I might be on Stevie's side on the happy ending debate. But when I read Joel's comments, I agree with those as well. Anyway... Excellent film. anyone who hasnt seen it needs to. | ||
| Stevie Walsh (Stephenw) Username: Stephenw Registered: 03-2009 Posted From: 82.4.19.77 |
Now go see 'Limitless' as well, Weber, it's unexpectedly brilliant! |