Question on Angier

The 2006 film about rival magicians desperately trying to learn the secrets of each others tricks.
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AverageDrafter wrote: Logicaly I would imagine that the one that is on the platform is original, and the copy is transported, but its tough to say (watch the cat change positions during the Telsa demo - it tends to debunk this).
The 'cat' thing is quite an observation ! :thumbup: Feels great when a movie demands this level of attention and involvement from the audience. Many thanks to Nolan ! :goNF:

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I think if you're looking for answers based on the cat's positioning, you're thinking way too hard.

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I think if you're looking for answers based on the cat's positioning, you're thinking way too hard.
Not really. Someone had to make decisions (likely Nolan, or an at least effects supervisor or tech) on what the sequence looked like when the cat flashes.

An English teacher I quite liked taught use to watch even the most trivial aspects of movies with a critical eye. Movies (even bad ones) have an army of people working on them, multiple people going over the smallest aspect, Every decision that is made is made for a reason (even if the reason is a poor or misguided one).

There is a REASON for the cat to be in a slightly different position after the flash, otherwise they could have ran uninterrupted take with a flash over it. I don't neccesarly think it was a matter of "lets give a clue about which is the copy and which is the original", but probably more a matter of "lets give a subtle visual clue that SOMETHING happened, even if the audience doesn't know exactly what yet..." So while Tesla and co think that the machine isn't working, the audience is given a little bit of insight that they can use to construct the true nature of the machine.

Of course there are many many more examples of this in this movie (field of hats and cats, the bird trick, the bouncing ball), which is why I'm so facinated by it.

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You're looking for something that isn't there. The whole idea is supposed to be that the object in the machine DOESN'T MOVE.

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steveportee wrote:You're looking for something that isn't there. The whole idea is supposed to be that the object in the machine DOESN'T MOVE.
The "whole" idea? And who said that? Its been a while since I saw it, so please refresh my memory. I can't remember any scenes that went into the specifics of Tesla's machine. The thing I remember is that Angier had a loaded gun ready when he tried it the firs time, because "he would not want to live like that for long". I think Angier knew what was about to happen, but ultimately he did not know if he was the original or the Prestige.. It did not matter tho as he became both. "Have you considered the cost" was never about money, but about Angier's soul.

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Hi guys, so I guess y'all have yet to embrace the notion that the Tesla machine doesn't work? Wasn't that entire sequence just a con that Angier played on Borden? Also, why all this brew-ha-ha about the cat? It wasn't even Tesla's cat, it was Schrodinger's!

I also wanted to mention the business with the cats n' the hats. A black cat has some significance in certain circles, but what of the top hat? Magicians like to pull small furry animals from them, as a trick, for one. What properties does it share with the bird cage, or the trap door on the stage? Well I'll tell you what, it was designed to collapse, like the bird cage and the floor of the stage. This same notion is utilized extensively in Inception as well. So why is Nolan obsessed with objects that are designed to collapse?

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Rusty Shackleford wrote:Hi guys, so I guess y'all have yet to embrace the notion that the Tesla machine doesn't work?
Because it's a bogus idea.

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I guess you weren't watching closely.

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Rusty Shackleford wrote:I guess you weren't watching closely.
:facepalm:

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Rusty Shackleford wrote:I guess you weren't watching closely.
An additional Angier was shown in the watertank in the end.
The End.

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