The Game (1997)

Film Trace

Jul 2 2022 • 1 hr 2 mins

The third film in our new Existential Thrillers cycle is David Fincher's Norcal mindbender, The Game (1997)

David Fincher is one the most powerful and popular auteurs working in film and tv today. We revisit what has strangely and wrongly become one of his minor works. Fincher teamed up with Micheal Douglas in the pre-Fight Club days to concoct this highly entertaining yet perplexing thriller. The audience is effectively thrust into the chaos unfolding around the protagonist as his palatial life begins to crumble. By the end, it feels like you have been on a theme park ride, or rather, you have been taken for a ride. The much scoffed-at ending perfectly fits the kaleidoscopic tone of the proceeding ninety minutes. This is genre work gone mad.

For our chaser film, we regrettably reexamine Christopher Nolan's Insomnia (2002). What an absolute trudge of a film. Thankfully our broteur whisperer, Molly, helps us decipher this broodfest.

Special Guests: Great friend of the show Molly is back!