Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 1: Sat Jan 1

The Prestige (Nolan, 1996): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 5.30pm

No apologies for putting up this brilliantly involving and endlessly fascinating Christopher Nolan work again so quickly after last month. Don't miss this 35mm presentation in the David Bowie season - also screens on January 11th (full details here).

Chicago Reader review:
The premise of this Victorian drama—a London theatrical magician (Hugh Jackman) tries to fend off a more cunning rival (Christian Bale)—weirdly parallels the predicament of director Christopher Nolan, whose movie opened in the long shadow of Neil Burger's The Illusionist. That movie also centers on a 19th-century magician, and the elegant contours of its story are even more impressive compared with Nolan's clutter of double and triple crosses. A substantial subplot here involves Jackman developing a secret project with pioneering electrical engineer Nikola Tesla (a delectably arch David Bowie); it doesn't really add anything, but Tesla's high-voltage coils throw off a lot more lightning than Scarlett Johansson as Jackman's sultry stage assistant. With Michael Caine, Piper Perabo, and Rebecca Hall.
JR Jones

Here (and above) is the trailer.

 

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