Wow, what a beautiful movie. This is the most beautiful film I've seen since Road to Perdition, and the most imaginative since Mulholland Drive. Everyone gave a great performance including James Woods and ESPECIALLY Nick Nolte.
After MUCH thought, I think i understand the movie except for one thing. If the characters existed in the dying boy's mind, how did James Wood's character see the weird people (Cup Of Tea, Flower Hercules, Card & Happy) when he jumped the crack in the floor? Even if he did step into some alternete dimention (which i don't think is the case, by the way), how did he see the boy's own personal fantasy if they weren't real?
If your going to take the opposite approach and say that they were real and that the boy was actually an angel, then what the hell was that tall wooden dog thing???? Also, where were they going? Did they need an angel to escort them to heaven? Help me out please!
PS - That wooden dog is really giving me the creeps!
That's a very good point about James Woods' character. I hadn't thought about that while seeing the movie. I think I can explain the wooden thing though, or at least something close to it. There was a three to five second close up of Nick Notle's character's walking stick and the close up showed the stick craved out to have a head very simliar to the wooden thing. Now I'm at a lost at why it "died" or just fell over halfway or 3/4 through the movie, but maybe that will help you to explain what the dog was doing there. Maybe you missed that close-up. Look forward to your thoughts on the matter.
wow, very observant Tweedtheatre! Now that you mention it, shortly after the "wooden creature" is hit with the dart and knocked out, Nolte's character admits to the graven digger that he has lost faith in faith itself.
On a sidenote, how about the use of some stellar actors in tiny parts? Kyle MacLachlan and Clark Gregg in those small roles. A tribute to the filmmakers, I say.
".......how did James Wood's character see the weird people (Cup Of Tea, Flower Hercules, Card & Happy) when he jumped the crack in the floor?" I'm wondering about that, too. I just saw it tonight. LOL, and I loved the wooden doggie!! He did freak me out, too, but after a few moments I warmed up to him a bit. Oh, and I found out his name is Flaco. :D Oh, and speaking of whom, do any of you have a picture of this Flaco?! I've been wanting to put his pic on my blog. I have this brochure here (where I found out the dog's name) from the theater I saw it at, and it, of course, has a pic of Flaco on it but the internet doesn't. And my scanner is broken. AND I'm supposed to be in bed because I'm EXHAUSTED!!! But I'm too wired and determined to find this pic, PLUS "Anatomy of a Shark Bite" is on TV. LMAO. I'm set, man. Now I just hope my grandparents don't wake up and yell at me. Hehehehe. Anyway, anyway, ANYWAY......... do any of you have a pic?? I'd love you muchly. :D Thanks!!! Virginia
Forget the wood creature. maybe his connections with "the Nolte charactor" are viable. (though, probably not.) i think that's one of the more unimportant aspects of the film. plus, it was a tranquelizing dart, nothing fatal. proably for comic relief. much needed at that. Woods charactor did jump through the section of the house divided by a snowy wall even though it was not snowing. (The boy at one point asks is it is snowing) so you can either believe the world exists in the boys mind or that the bizzare foursome are ghosts/angels. who appear as a metaphore of faith and doubt, evident when woods recieves his concussion due to his jump. as for "where they were going" and that, i believe is for you to decide. This movie leaves much for the imagination. and i deeply apppreciate that. and so should everyone else. This was a beautiful film and it's nice to see a director take his damn time, (like Stanley Kubrick) instead of throwing together an editing plethera like much of todays films. therefore i say, best-directed film of the year so far. and for the love of god people, David Lynch is not the only director that is allowed to film odd and creepy movies. I'm a huge Lynch fan, but believe me there some out there who did it before Lynch and better than Lynch.
"actually, no one has done it better than lynch. fellini, godard, and kubrick have come close, but not that close. "
I have two words for you. Salvador Dali.
The analupeon (sp?) dog is by far one of the greatest surrealist films ever made. and arguably better than lynch. The analupeon dog was surrealism at its finest. Not saying anything bad about lynch, love his movies, just watched inland empire again with a friend.
and i wonder, wooden dog=analupean dog homage? possibly.
After James Woods' character jumped from one side of the house to the other there was a flash of light ((something like what might happen when you hit your head really hard)) and then he could see them. Happy then tells the other angels as they look down at James Woods "now THIS is something like a concusion." The others nod in understanding and then James Woods' char snaps out of it. They are both real and not real. They exist, but only on a subconscious plain. Much like a fortune teller being sensitive to the presence of ghosts. He knocked his head and in his confused state of mind was able to zone in on them.
Now the dog thing is a whole 'nother thing. I get the relation of the dogcreature to the cane, but as to how it could possibly tie into what I have written above, I dunno! Beautiful movie though. I wish we could have seen the flood come through.....
Re: the James Woods character seeing the "creatures," my take is similar to butterflybyu's. I viewed it as if it was a near death experience and he came close to dying but then returned. And that it was being near death that gave him the brief opportunity to see the same characters the boy did. (Although surely he would've had his own -- but then that would have taken too long to establish and using the boy's character was much quicker.)
hello all. i just saw this movie last night at the london film festival where it was introduced by the polish brothers and they also held a quick Q & A. nicest guys ever. so anyway micheal did mention where those characters came from. NOTE WHAT I WIRTE NEXT IS FROM MEMORY.
the wooden creature, was the king (i dont understand this). also whats interesting is that when they came to film the wooden creature they thought it was maybe a bit too much, but they kept it in anyway. AND the creature is a guy in a costume on stilts (unless micheal was joking at that point).
TEA. the idea behind Tea came from his wife. he would be writing in LA and his wife (from england) would pop her head through the door and ask "would you like some tea?"
he gave the impression that the creature, flower, tea and happy, are all apart of the boys imagination, the fact that all the names of these characters and the events that happen, have a relationship to the things on his beside table. the hucules comic, the airplane, the flower, the compass that looks like happy's glasses, the vase in the shape of happy's hand etc...
Thats exactly how I saw it, JWs character was in a semi conscious state and he was able to see things that were on a different plane yet when he woke he said nothing about it because he didnt remember clearly, he just wanted out of there and was most upset It certainly was a beautiful but strange movie, so much time given to really feel each scene, so much depth given to the characters & storyline I think there could be endless meanings to each scene for each viewer I loved it and want to watch it many times to see it in a different light or when my mood is different Then I always look at a movie from a new angle and it chages my perspective...... I too wished they had opened the flood gates At least the creepy dog would have floated. 5 STARS for this one !
I too saw the connection between the dog and Nolte. Just as the other characters in the boy's 'dream' are creations constructed upon his real life experiences (being offered tea, his Hercules comic etc), it would seem that Nolte's character is interpreted as the dog - the walking stick, the guide, the protector.
How can you trust a man that wears both a belt and suspenders? Man can't even trust his own pants.
Is it possible he sees the angels because it was probabily his house before his wife died? He and Willis are divided much like the house on the subject of their mother. The father has faith in love.
The only 2 people in the whole people in the whole movie that had faith were the little boy and Wood's character---and it is not necessarily religious faith.
The little boy had faith that he was an angel.
Woods always had faith in love for his wife and the promise he made her---to nthat he would come back and get her; something we can't say about his son. In fact Willis does not believe that his mother should be dug up, yet he has no problem with the rest of the townspeople having to do the same thing. Is it that he really does not want to do it or is it too creepy..... like it was too creepy for him to go up the stairs or too creepy to jump down where the casket was.
In that very house, Woods loses the wings that provides happy with the means to affirm the Irwin's angelic status. In a sense Woods' faith freed Irwin or at least gave him the means to make his belief manifest itself.
Nolte's character admits he lost faith. The rest of the Men in black are in it strictly for the land. They say they "it is wrong that the town is being flooded" yet they directly participate in its demise in exchange for 1.5 acres of land. Much like Mr and Mrs Hope (Maclaughlin's character) their good intentions are purely lip service devoid of faith.
Thus none of the men in black, Nolte, nor anyone else can see the angels except for James Woods and The boy.
If i remember correctly, a religious group (not sure which one) believs that we all are in the mind of a man dying on cancer's last dream. Might be a reference to this guy becoming involved in the dying childs dream.
Hm i saw this movies, just now seconds ago and i must say i enjoyed this movie alot, its just the kind of movies i like. I must say though that its pretty weird and it doesnt make complete sense in my mind but im not sure if it does in anybodys mind. im trying to figure the film out so that all the logical gaps will be filled out but i find that its very hard. And it seems to me that im not the only one with problems. But i like a movie like Lynchs' Eraserhead were you make the movie in your mind and when you talk to other people they have "made" a completely different movie.
In the begining of the film noltes character says something about that everybody is angels but its all about how we use our wings. Im not so sure about what this meens since its pretty obvious that everybody is not angels because then why would is be exlusive to spend an afternoon with an angel or to have angel wings? I also wondered if the coffin thats floating up in the beginning is noltes characters soul finaly accepting death and floating up? And also, is it just me that gets the impression of that noltes character is just comforting irwin when he says that he will tell them that he is an angel and that he doesnt really belive him.
I think i like the idea of that somehow the characters have souls in the movie and that its them who are represented in the other world witch i think is another dimension. That is where the soul is active when the soul is triggered in the "real" world. The soul is liberated when the mind "gives after" like when wood gets his concussion. Couldnt woods wife then be the soul in the other dimension? I do know that my theory is a bit far fetched but i think it suits me perfectly at the moment. I know it doesnt really explain the stuffs on his nightstand nad probably a lot of other things but please come with remarks opon my theory if something is wrong or if you could find any other logical gaps.
"I guess some people are just born with tradgedy in their blood"
I don't think they existed just in the boy's mind. I think they were angels or bodhisattvas or some such, and they were sent to get him. Apparently they go on many such trips because they accuse Hercules Flower of "always looking for children..."
Woods's character is so well grounded in not just reality but the pragmatic, empirical kind that he's disturbed by deeply by visions. He may believe in God, but he's not sentimental or superstitious. He firmly believes moving all the people out is the best thing, even if he gets to stay in an area he admits was touched by God on "his last day." The idea that something "supernatural" is going on their challenges his straightforward worldview and he panics.... Of course, he's not so upset that he doesn't use the apparitions to complete his count so he can have the lakeside property.