Strange Movie, Weird Ending


I found this movie very interesting, strange, misterious.
Those scenes were Pozzi & Nashe are building the wall and then the movie shows the little model the wealthy men had in their house just the same as what was happening.

Also, why do u think Nashe crashes on porpouse if that was his last day ?
Maybe he didn't believe he was gonna get away alive ?

I'd like to know your comments, people

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I think he was angry with the others over what happened to Pozzi.

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Don't dream it, be it.

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In the book he's also killed.

The movie was unusually true to the book except for that ending. I wonder if they felt the original ending was too downbeat.

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Paul Auster must have been happy with the revised ending or he would not have agreed to play the driver at the end. Did anyone else think he looked really like Mandy Patinkin?

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This is nicebat, my cyberpet.

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Wow, it is a long time since I have been to this board! Nicebat have changed our sig line twice. It was "Nicebat and I have to party" before this one.
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Nicebat: party animal.

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It's been 10 years since I read the book (just saw the movie last week). I can't remember if at the end Nashe smashed the car into the wall they just built?

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Nope, the wall was too inside of those millionires'property. He just crashed the car, and the book ended just there, hinting there were no survivors.

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that makes it an even weirder ending...

the movie seemed too surreal for me

i wasn't expecting any cut & dried ending, but what exactly was the "message" ?


Also, why do u think Nashe crashes on porpouse if that was his last day ?
Maybe he didn't believe he was gonna get away alive ?
i believe that would be the reason.

remember how they gave him a list of "Expenses Incurred", ie. arguing about no mention of food costs, etc.

i guess he figured there was always going to be some other excuse to keep him captive, so he had to "end it there and then".


What do you call a thousand kilos of chinese dumplings ? One wonton tonne

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Ah I recently read the book and watched the film.

I thought for ages after the book about the message, I didn't even know there was a film. There were differences of course. In the book Nashe killed himself along with Murks and Floyd, or so it seemed to me, the book ends with the lights of a car just moments before the crash and as Nashe was travelling at 80mph you presume he died.

Paul Auster is a novelist I discovered recently who has captured my imagination. I presume his appearance as the driver was his stamp of approval on the film and the ending. Maybe he meant for Nash to escape in this fashion. The beginning of the novel focused alot on Nashe's driving across America, his aimless wandering. I think the wall represented the same theme as the driving and that's why Nashe didnt argue with Flower and Stone. He saw it as something to do, a repetitive action. He said driving wasnt about the destination but the moving, how everything just passed in a moment.

I think its clear that the main theme in this story is pointlessness. The driving had no point but he loved it, the wall had no point but he had pride in it, there was no point in two filthy rich men making such a significant point about 10,000 dollars but stone (stone like the wall) used it for his model, there was no point to the ending where he was free but escaped anyway. I think this highlighted futility to the highest level. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It made me think alot.

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Posted Dec 6, 2006 by agubiscayne
Strange Movie, Weird Ending

I found this movie very interesting, strange, misterious.
Those scenes were Pozzi & Nashe are building the wall and then the movie shows the little model the wealthy men had in their house just the same as what was happening.

Also, why do u think Nashe crashes on porpouse if that was his last day ?


Nashe crashes when he reads how you spelled mysterious " misterious " and purpose " porpouse " lol lol FOMALOL Sorry I know I'm being an ass but I just couldn't resist. I had visions of Flipper acting strangely. Or was Flipper a dolphin ?

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I think it's very interesting that the end of the film is exactly the same as the start. Implying Spader had just lost to the two rich guys, or cheated them and wanted a second bite at the apple.

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