The Game

There are all kinds of games in this world, each for a different type of person. There’s Risk, Texas Hold’em, or Chess for those with a love of strategy. Pictionary, Charades, or Cards Against Humanity for those who like group games. Then of course there’s the idea of sports, which can entertain us both passively and actively. Today’s subject however focuses on another kind of game. One that mixes less things like fun, play, and sport, and more of things like stress, fright, and danger. One in which the player paranoiacally walks a line between sanity and safety in a game like no other.

So if you’re like me and you enjoy film and the impact and emotions they convey then grab a glass of your preferred liquid and join me for the next little while. For me that’s a glass of Buffalo Trace from our Friends in Kentucky. So sit back, relax, and let’s talk about the love of film. Welcome to Glazed Cinema.

The Game is a film directed by one of my favorite directors, David Fincher. As a psychological thriller the story itself has a lot of twists and turns, but the general plot is this. A millionaire named Nicholas Van Orton receives a birthday gift from his brother Conrad. It’s a voucher for a game from a company called CRS, Consumer Recreation Servies. Once the game begins, so does an experience unlike any other. One that liquidates his bank account, sees him buried alive in Mexico, and fractures almost every relationship he has.

The film stars the great Michael Douglas as Nicholas Van Orton who is an investment banker living in San Francisco. He is a cutthroat business man, which has bled into his personality. He’s arrogant, rude and short with almost everyone we see him interact with. He seems especially rude when we first meet him, which is on his birthday.

Nicholas’ birthday is a day he does not care for. The reason why he has contentment for his day of birth is revealed during the intro of the film itself. It’s a montage of 8mm reels told through silent home movies with a haunting piano playing in the background. We see Nicholas and his father outside as they pose for a photograph during the party. Then we see other things like people preparing for the party, Nicholas‘ father breaking off on his own, guests having fun, his father walking toward the house, images of the party decorations, and his father standing on the roof of the mansion.

You see Nicholas hates his birthday because it also the anniversary of his father’s death. This year in particular puts him at 48, the same age his father was when he died. This is a central idea of the film as the role of that act and the relationship between Nicholas and his father comes into play quite a bit. Conrad, Nicholas’ younger brother played by Sean Penn seems quite easy going, fun loving, and grounded. We can piece together through dialogue however that he has recently overcome some of his own past demons.

The two actors, Penn and Douglas play really well off each other when we see them together. Despite their personality differences there’s mutual love and care between them, even though it may be hard to tell beneath Nicholas’ callous exterior.

Another important character to the film is Christine, played by Deborah Kara Unger, who we meet at a restaurant. Nicholas is meeting Conrad for dinner, but when Conrad doesn’t show up Nicholas gets up to leave. A waitress then crashes into him, spilling beverages all over him. This accident begins their spiral into an adventure that neither of them will never forget.

The adventure they embark on is wuite the roller coaster ride that sees us descending at a fast rate for most of the experience. The highs are less high and more plateaus or reprieves throughout the journey. It’s my favorite psychological thriller and is done extremely well.

The film is shot quite wonderfully and has a lot of character with each scene portrayed. I love dark things and that’s probably another reason why I love The Game. The scenes themselves play with lighting and shadows beautifully. Not much is really bright throughout the film and it does so much for the mood and emotions throughout. The paranoia, fear, stress, and danger feels more tangible. I love the scenes in the lounge in the beginning where Nicholas gets some insight into CRS from a couple gentleman who previously played. One of them quotes a bible verse and cryptically explains what the game is about, which adds more questions than answers for an inquiring mind. In fairness to him though, it is a little hard to explain something like The Game.

There are so many sequences that I love in this film, but talking about them all would pretty much nullify any reason for you to tune in. So I’ll only talk about a couple, the rest I’ll leave to you.

One of my favorite sequences is fairly early on in the film. Nicholas is on his way home from playing squash and pulls up to the gate of his home. The metal barrier opens, beckoning him in, like a book opening to reveal the secrets within its pages. Driving through we see his abode from afar and as be rounds the fountain we get a close up of his front bumper until he suddenly stops. Nicholas looks through his windshield, craning his neck to see something on the ground. on the ground now, looking at the car the camera pans left as we see the lower half of a body in red pants. the camera continues to reveal a black coat covering the upper half. We the get a great shot of Douglas’ face through the windshield, reflections of water from the fountain dancing on the windshield and then flashes of his father in the same position as the body that lay before him. Getting out of the car he slowly walks forward and squats down next to the body. He flinches, but doesnreach forward, turning the figure to reveal a white wooden clown. Bringing the clown inside he swings the legs around in the light from his headlights and sits him down in a nearby chair. He then reaches in its mouth and pulls on a red piece of fabric. As he begins to pull a lone piano note rhythmically calls out like drips from a faucet. He pulls and pulls and much like and magic trick it seems never ending, until a key is revealed at the other end. Holding the key up we can see the letters “CRS” on the side.

After a cut we hear a news anchor on the tv as Nicholas is eyeballing the clown, clearly wondering what its deal is. Walking over to the clown he begins tinkering with its collar. The TV has a rush of static and the news anchor says ”but what does that matter to a bloated millionaire fat cat like you?” Nicholas eyes the anchor with a puzzled look as the news oicks back up to the regular programming. Returning to the clown he begins sticking a butter knife in its mouth trying to see if there’s anything else inside. Soon we return to the anchor as he says “reports that Nicholas Van Orton has sneezed.”

Standing at attention and whirling around to look at the tv the anchor again sounds off, “Are you going to spend the rest of the evening prying at that clowns mouth?” Stammering Nicholas struggles to find a retort, to which the anchor states, “it’s frustrating for me if you don’t pay attention.” Nicholas looking suspicious and confused asks “ What is this?” The anchor, straightening his back responds, “This is your game Nicholas and welcome to it. I’m here to let you in on a few ground rules. You received your very first key and others will follow. You’ll never know where you’ll find them or how you’ll need to use them so keep your eyes open.” This bizarre encounter begins a wild ride that will question Nicholas’ sanity.

I love everything about this sequence. The lighting, the set decor, the acting, it’s all wonderful. I especially love the mood. It’s all a but puzzling and intriguing, in the best ways. Another thing that I’ve always appreciated about the scene is how things are intertwined here. Nicholas‘ personal space in the form of his livingroom are intertwined with his workspace as he listens to financial news. He is also entwined with his father by way of the clown. All the more important of note is the fact that with his birthday Nicholas is the same age his father was when he died. My favorite thing about this scene though is the news anchor, I always smile when the anchor begins talking. It’s such a cool concept and Fincher absolutely nailed the execution.

Probably my favorite sequence however is when Nicholas returns home from a meeting with his lawyer. We see him open the screen door of the front entrance. The camera looking outward as he enters…his home shrouded in darkness. As he shuts the door we hear what sounds like someone over the phone say “Hello?” Calling for Ilsa he reaches for the light switch, which looks to be exposed. His fingers touch the hole in the wall and sparks shoot out with a blast of white light. Waving his hand in pain he curses the electricity surge and gingerly steps forward. Hearing a busy signal Nicholas reaches for the phone in the darkness. Bringing the speaker to his ear the rhythmic dial tone stops. Silence takes over as we hear the sound of footsteps echo from within the house.

He opens the briefcase, raising a revolver up in fear. Walking forward he announces, “I have a gun!” Wiping his sweaty palms on his suit jacket he continues onward into the belly oh his house. Coming into a large hall he turns every which way, checking every angle for possible danger. Tripping over some things on the floor he stumbles as things clank and clash from the collision. Without warning blacklights turn on and music slowly winds up. There’s neon spraypaint all over the walls and Jefferson Airplane’s White Rabbit plays loudly throughout the home.

I love the emotion in this scene, it’s so raw and real. I remember the first time watching it being scared and on edge for Nicholas. The moments are so good and effective, specifically the noises from within the house. It’s that universal fear of having someone in your home without you knowing. The thought of being somewhere familiar that feels unfamiliar because something foreign has taken over. Every time I hear those footsteps from within the house it gets an “Uh Uh” reaction out of me. Take the house, it’s yours now, bye bye.

There are other great moments and scenes, so you’ll have to tune in to see the others. You’ll have to let me know which moments were stuck with you, I’d love to know.

The game provides an experience that does many things for me, but most importantly it makes me want to come back to it. A film in which I knew that within the first few minutes that I was going to love it.

I remember vividly the first time I saw the movie poster for the first time. I was in the backseat of my parents’ car driving home from a shopping trip. It was raining outside and the dark clouded evening sky made the night feel just a bit more intimidating. We pulled up at a stoplight and I looked out of my rain streamed window at the Hollywood Video store (one of Blockbuster’s competitors at the time). There were three spots for movie posters, each containing a bright ivory bulb lit border advertising new movies. In the middle one was a black poster with the head of Michael Douglas in the middle, except the top of his head was made of jigsaw puzzle pieces, separating from his forehead. It was an image that for whatever reason scared me a little bit as a young boy, but also intrigued me. As the rain continued to assault the metal exterior we drove away, leaving the poster in the rain.

A few years later I was looking at movies to pick one to watch with my parents when I came across the same image. Naturally I was curious having remembered the poster that one rainy night, so I asked to watch it. What unfurled was a wonderfully dizzying experience that would beckon me back years later.

As I said before, there is a lot to love about this film, but I have to take a minute and talk about the acting. I love Michael Douglas and his many roles, but this is my favorite of all the performances I’ve seen from him. He plays the rude, arrogant, rich role really well and makes you believe every moment and emotion the character goes through. I especially love the subtleties in his mannerisms and expressions. He does a phenomenal job. Apart from Douglas, Deborah Kara Unger is amazing in ber supporting role as Christine. Her character is a lot of things in this film and with each step through the plot her performance is always spot on regardless of the situation. Penn, despite not a whole lot of screen time also puts out a great performance. It’s clear that Fincher did very well directing and collaborating with everyone on the project.

Without saying too much the ending is quite fantastic and one that I found sobering, yet satisfying. Every time I watch The Game I always come away with the sense of content. It’s so good and I truly enjoy every bit of it. If there’s a message to take from this film it’s to appreciate life and strive to be better. To connect that with what I’ve talked about you’ll have to tune in to see for yourself. I’ll leave you with the same insight that Nicholas received in the lounge. “For once I was blind, but now can see.”

If you‘d like to watch The Game you can find it on a variety of streaming services. At the time of this recording you can find The Game on Netflix. Netflix has a few different pricing options ranging from $8.99 to $17.99 a month.

You can also find The Game services like YouTube, Prime Video, Vudu, Apple TV, and Google Play for $3.99 to rent if you subscribe to those services.

If you’d like to learn more about the podcast please feel free to visit our website at glazedcinema.com. There you’ll find some background on the show and also a place to submit ideas for future episodes. For film fans who are hearing impaired the blog page on our website features each episode in written form as well. If you like this podcast tell your friends or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Each week there will be new content including hints about episodes before they air. As always, thanks for listening and I hope to see you next time, with a beverage and another fine film.