Category: Movies

THE TRUTH WILL FIND YOU

Fight Club and The Matrix are two very important movies for me, mostly because I was in high school in the early 90s.

So yeah, I may watch these two movies a lot. I even have a Matrix tattoo.

Something struck me recently. Near the end of Fight Club, when Edward Norton is beginning to realize that he’s Tyler Durden.

“You work nights because you can’t sleep. Or you stay up and make soap.”

Now, the scene where Neo meets Trinity for the first time:

“I know why you’re here, Neo. I know what you’ve been doing. I know why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night you sit at your computer.”

Neither of these main characters can sleep. They’re searching for something. Your next life, who knows?

And then each character expands because they start hanging around people.

Edward Norton was fighting with himself in the parking lot of Lou’s Tavern, when that guy walked up and said, “can I be next?”

Neo was searching, living alone, living on his computer. But his pals dropped buy for a miniDisc, right?

This then leads to Neo meeting more characters that wear all black and do stuff with computers.

This is an absolutely incomplete line of thinking between the two movies, the two characters. I’m not saying they’re connected, or in the same universe.

But the concept of not sleeping, or searching for meaning in some way outside yourself… I don’t know where this is going, so please stand by.

THE CONTINUOUS SHOT FROM THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT

The fifth episode of the Book of Boba Fett is my favorite, and one I keep re-watching, mostly for the continuous shot that starts at the 7:04 mark, and lasts until 9:21.

After some gorgeous shots of the ring world of Glavis, we seen Mando walking to the elevator to deliver the bounty.

This interaction says everything, without a single word being said.

The camera goes in motion to Mando’s right, and goes around the entire table. I’ve watched this several times, and it’s fun watching all the subtle movements and reactions that each person sitting around the table has.

See? The camera continued around the table to Mando’s left side, and will follow him out of the club.

The music fades, and we’re left with Mando struggling with his hurt leg.

Mando gets off the elevator, and he walks by the camera and out of frame, ending the continuous shot at the 9:21 mark, cutting to another camera angle.

I haven’t noticed any of the big episode “wrap up” articles making note of this, but I did find a small thread on Reddit talking about.

“Before he 1st goes into the elevator, the shot begins with Mando walking out from behind a arched pillar on his right & a low concrete ledge on his left leading up to the elevator. Those same set pieces are shown in the same spots each floor he enters/exits the elevator from. The CG backdrop & possibly the slight change in lighting are the only things that changes to give the impression that he is ascending & descending levels,” via Reddit

So yeah, I love it so much.

THE MATRIX MIRRORED

I started to watch Matrix Resurrections and the Matrix at the same time, like a totally normal person. I had two windows open, and tried to sync them up, but just started skipping ahead to notable moments.

“I think we can handle one little girl.”
“No lieutenant, your men are already dead.”
During the entire scene (from the original, and watching in real time with Resurrections), these line up pretty much perfect.
“Maybe you know him by his real name… Neo.”

So then Bugs runs away from the agents, and then it cuts to the “old” Matrix code, as the camera pulls out to Thomas (bottom), staring ahead with dead eyes.

The next scene in the original Matrix (after the whole “white rabbit tattoo” thing), is DRAGULA (top)! Again, Thomas sort of staring off into space.

Original Matrix, Neo on the left.
Matrix Resurrection: Thomas on the right.

OLD – METACORTEX (what a silly name that the Matrix programmers would use) NEW – SIMULATTE (what a silly name that the Matrix programmers would use)

Next scene… Original Matrix, Thomas on the left.
Matrix Resurrection: Thomas on the right.

The look of someone who’s about to talk to someone they’ve never talked to before.
OLD: Morpheus
NEW: “Trinity”

So the next major moment (save for Thomas trying to get to the scaffolding, the Modal 101: File Purged) is… this.

Exact opposites again!

OLD: Agents entering the room, Thomas to the right and sitting.
NEW: Thomas entering the room (not sitting), Smith on the right.

This is as far as I got on a Sunday night, just sort of clicking ahead here and there. These shots don’t seem coincidental. Perhaps a play on the “mirror image” concept?

I’m sure there’s more shots down the road that are similar, like with Morpheus fighting Neo, the first stand off with Agent Smith after he’s been freed (again).