prestidigitation

We went to see The Prestige last night, and I must say it lived up to expectations - fine writing, acting and directing. Some elements of it were rather disturbing: the idea that various birds and other creatures have to die in large numbers for the magician to perform his art; the sadistic titillation of audiences watching an attractive young lady escape from drowning (or not, as the case may be); and the final scene was the most disturbing of all (though I can't mention it as it would give the plot away). The flashback scenes were a bit confusing sometimes, but the plot was very cleverly constructed to give plenty of shocks and surprises. It was great to see such a talent-laden cast - Michael Caine, David Bowie, Scarlett Johansson, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, et al. It's also good to see a science-fictional theme transposed into a late-19th century setting, and good that the ideas of Tesla were given an airing. I just hope that the cat in Tesla's experiment was done with CGI (but don't worry, it survived).