"It is inhuman to be so cold"...

Rating: 6/10 (18 July 2007)

"It is inhuman to be so cold", says one of the film's characters, and that's what "The Prestige" (2006) directed by Christopher Nolan is above all. It is technically well done, it is dark, it is twisted (too many twists to my taste) and it could be described as "Memento" meets "RashÃ´mon" judging by the way the story of obsession, rivalry, hatred, and losing all human feelings has been told. Yes, it is well done by in the end I don't care about any of its main characters because more than anything, their story reminds of Atreus and Thyestes, two brothers from the Greek Mythology where each would go very far to hurt and to humiliate the sibling. The tricks are magic but when there is nothing but hatred (and some science fiction thrown in for more effect) behind the magic, I don't want to be tricked. I prefer "The Illusionist" that was released the same year -there is love and light behind the secrets and tricks, and I want to stay there.