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Explain: American Psycho

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Explain: American Psycho

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Old 12-09-09 | 01:38 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Read the book. The movie is mediocre at best.
Old 12-09-09 | 01:42 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Originally Posted by conscience
I just got the book from Hastings yesterday. Can't wait to read it. Reading Rules right now.
Rules is all right but American Pyscho is fantastic.
Old 12-09-09 | 01:44 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

I can see why people were boycotting the release of this book.
Old 12-09-09 | 05:42 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Originally Posted by Tylerwoods
There is an idea of a patrick bateman but in the end its still just an idea. he says this at the begining of the flim when he peels off the mask. HE IS NOT REAL!!! "I think therefore i am" patrick bateman doesnt even think that there is a patrick bateman. think about it haha

So essentially according to your theory, NOTHING even happened in the movie. How is there a movie or book without Bateman.
He never actually quotes it like you say.

There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there.
He's basically saying for the most part he is able to act like a somewhat normal human being on the outside, but there is nothing inside him. It is all outward appearance, all an act.
Old 12-09-09 | 07:23 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

I found the book to be one of the most enjoyable reading experiences of the past year. I highly recommend it. You really get into Patrick's head.
Old 12-09-09 | 07:35 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

I found the book to be a slog, for the exact reason that Ellis puts the same priority on the most mundane things as he does the horrific acts Patrick engages in. It's like reading somebody's shopping list and finding "dead babies" sandwiched between "pasta shells" and "mayonnaise." Of course, that's what is brilliant about it (the sequence where he freaks out while buying a tie is hilarious in its heightened sense of paranoia), but it's not exactly an easy to read book.
Old 12-09-09 | 08:20 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Bateman is a replicant.
Old 12-09-09 | 08:52 PM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Originally Posted by Dean Kousoulas
I found the book to be one of the most enjoyable reading experiences of the past year. I highly recommend it. You really get into Patrick's head.
I suppose the question becomes when deciding whether or not to read it, is "is that a place you want to go?"
Old 12-10-09 | 12:20 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Originally Posted by Nick Martin
I suppose the question becomes when deciding whether or not to read it, is "is that a place you want to go?"
Answer: Yes.

I found that the movie was made so much more enjoyable after having read the book. It just adds such depth; more so than any other adaption I have encountered.
Old 12-10-09 | 12:36 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Patrick Bateman is a ghost. He died early in the film after exchanging business cards. He suffered a massive paper cut (he bled to death in his sleep... off screen). Notice how no one really interacts with him directly in the later scenes.
Old 12-11-09 | 04:15 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Loved the movie,but the book is a must read for anyone who grow up in the 80s.I would post more but I have to return some videos.
Old 12-12-09 | 12:21 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

There was a post that brought this up, but I want to re-address it since I have had Donnie Darko on my mind tonight -- if the public receives the movie as ambiguous and debates the hell out of the opposing points of view, and then the director comes out and says "This is the way it was and I tried very hard to make that clear" ... did the director fail on an epic level or succeed accidentally?
Old 12-12-09 | 01:21 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Unless the movie is not very good, I say succeeded accidently.

Any movie that's enjoyable on a surface level, but stimulates further discussion about possible meanings due to certain ambiguities is quite an accomplishment in my opinion.

I have my own ideas of movies that might fit that description. What movies other than Donnie Darko are like this?
Old 12-12-09 | 01:23 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

In the case of Donnie Darko, I think the theatrical cut is a complete failure in trying to convey the director's intentions. I remember listening to the commentary, and hearing the director talk about what was happening, and it sounded like a completely different movie. However, it's still a very good movie, just not in the way the director intended. The director's cut is more in line, obviously, with what he wanted.
Old 12-12-09 | 01:35 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

I forgot what he said in the commentary, what'd he say was supposed to happen?

In the movie, I thought
Spoiler:
that Donnie was destined to die, and up to that point he felt that he was completely alone and a failed human being.

A higher power intervened and altered the timeline so that he didn't die, with the purpose of giving Donnie the chance to see happiness, but in doing so the world will end.
Donnie saves everyone by pulling the jet engine from his mothers plane, to kill himself which simultaneously restarts time from the beginning of the movie, so the orginal destined timeline can progress rightfully.

Last edited by brayzie; 12-12-09 at 02:00 AM.
Old 12-12-09 | 01:40 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

It's been a long time since I listened to the commentary, but the movie Kelley describes is very different from the theatrical cut.

Spoiler:
Also, IIRC, it wasn't that a higher power intervened. Donnie created a splinter timeline by not dying, but the timeline was too weak to stand up on its own and was dying, and in order for it to not damage the main timeline, Donnie had to go back and accept his fate.
Old 12-12-09 | 01:59 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

Hmmm, that's pretty interesting too. That would explain his response about his name.
Thanks.
Old 12-12-09 | 03:47 AM
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Re: Explain: American Psycho

The director's cut makes it much more clear exactly what is happening. It's more nebulous in the theatrical cut.

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