What is it with Stevie and eggs? The first time we see her, she tells Trevor that he still has time and she can fix him some eggs. The last time we see her, she has actually fixed him some scrambled eggs.

Also, when Trevor runs out of the airport near the end of the movie and goes past that poster that says, "Escape", with the palm tree and sandy beach, Stevie has a similiar picture hanging over her bed with a palm tree and tropical beach, only hers depicts a sunset.

In my effort to keep the momentum of the comm up, I'm starting to look obsessive aren't I? But there's plenty to be said still.

( just a few things )

Finally, as much as I should be setting an example over what is and is not relevant on this comm, I'm including a drawing of Trent I did a while back because creedysgirl says I must! I'm working on Trevor but he's avoiding me.

( down in it )

Let's see, I'm not really sure I know where to go with this but it's worth a shot.

One thing that attracted me a great deal to this movie was the imagery of machinery, and the fact that Trevor is a machinist. (I mean, it's the title.) Something I'd like to put forward and explore is the importance of this theme. Brad Anderson mentions something in the commentary about how Trevor is this really tiny, frail guy that is tired all the time because he doesn't sleep which in term exacerbates the perils and the danger of his job, he's working with such heavy and intense material. I think there's a lot more that can be said than just that little snippet of irony. I think it's something that maybe could have been explored more throughout the film, (but doesn't take anything away from the film that it's not.)

Trevor is this fragile creature, this skeletal being, pure flesh and bone- but at the same time he's kind of created this machine out of himself a drone for the past year. The machines are an obvious force in the movie, they're what causes Miller's arm, and Trevor to almost lose his. I see the machine as kind of a facade, a physical disguise he masks himself with. While Trevor thinks there is some kind of conspiracy against him, and other forces acting on him, it's really only himself, the machine he's built himself into. I'd like to think that Trevor finds solace in his work. That this is a way he can escape, by fitting cogs and building parts. He's trying to subconciously build this wall around himself, which ultimately turns against him and comes crashing down.

( I'm stuck in this dream )


So I don't know if I've actually said anything worth saying, but it's a little dose of my take on things, that could definetly be delved deeper into.

When Trevor is on the ride with Nicholas, I noticed something interesting. When they pass the two corpses(the one hanging, and the other one leaning out of the window of the sheriff's office), they seem to be wearing work uniforms, like the one Trevor wears at his job. Did anyone else notice this?

Also, there is the woman who is weeping over what looks to me like a child-sized coffin.

Finally, towards the end of the ride, there are rapidly flashing lights, and then Nicholas has his seizure. These kinds of seizures are called "photosensitive seizures", and there is more info. at this link: http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/pokemon.html
I just wonder how the flashing lights and the seizure relate to Trevor's dillema.

So, after having watched the movie the second time, I have so many things I want to discuss. There were so many subtelties in the movie, I found myself obsessively taking notes. I suppose I'll take one point at at time. Did anyone notice the "paths" theme? When Trevor and Nicholas were on the ride, at one point the track forks, and Trevor tells the boy to go towards the sign that says(can't remember exactly) "salvation" rather than the one that says "damnation". Then, when Trevor slips down the drainpipe and walks the sewers, there seems to be a maze of different directions he could take. And, at the end, when Trevor is in the car with Ivan, he sees the freeway signs that say, "airport", and "downtown", and, Ivan, who for the first time in the movie seems decent, winks at Trevor, as if to say, "Do the right thing, take the right path." Trevor chooses to go to the police station rather than leave town and flee. I hope that at all made sense. The movie is still blowing me away.

I wondered while watching the commentary why Brad Anderson, in all his belly-scratching enthusiasm, glossed over some points that I thought were very important. (I also thought he could have sang Christian's praises about 200 times more than he did! I mean, when you're fortunate enough to get a performance like that, you don't talk about lighting! oO) One that bothered me a lot was that he never mentioned the recurring foreshadowing of the end scenes in the bathroom. To the the point where I began to question if he knew why those scenes were written. Or perhaps he felt they were obvious enough... or foreshadowing was never the intention...

( blood and mirrors )

Please forgive me if this is addressed in the commentary and is all old news. I haven't gotten my paws on the DVD yet. Yet.

So I've never read Dostoevsky - can't even spell him without nervous reference, right? - and couldn't help but notice the very prominent focus given to The Idiot in the film.

Just went hunting and experienced a jaw-dropping moment at this:

It represents, we are told, a dead man who is totally flesh without life, damaged and destroyed, with no hint of a possible future resurrection. ... the dead man in the painting is an executed man, whose consciousness has been brutally cut off. There is a rhythmic meditation on murder and execution in this story ... Connected to the terrible lucidity of the condemned man in the tumbril is the unearthly lucidity of the pre-epileptic aura, bliss without time or space, eternity in an instant. The images are their own meaning. ... The women think they are in a story about seduction, rape, proposals, money and marriage ... The prince is in some absolute moral world in which he can instinctively gauge who is being cruel to whom, who is in need and who is tormenting or tormented ... (the women) consider "loving" the prince for those qualities of patience and attention and kindness, which do attract both over-experienced and gawkily innocent women.

I know I'm getting all that from a review, even if it's written by AS Byatt, but woah!

Anyone read the actual book? Or does Brad say something about it in the commentary? Sorry, bit of an academic nerd here and when films and books collide in such marvellous fashion, I get very excited. :p