Synopsis:

This version shows all scenes from the original cut in chronological order, changing the movie from a mostly intellectual experience into a more straightforward and emotional one.

Intentions:

I was interested to see how the story would play out when told chronologically - not as an improvement but simply as a different experience.

Change List:

Put all scenes in chronological order, without flashbacks (save for a few shots of Julia drowning in the water tank) and without spoiling the revelations at the end about how both versions of the Transported Man were performed. Retained most of Caine's monologue from the opening and closing scenes and added them to the new opening and closing scenes (see clips above). Saved the appearance of the title of the movie for the climax of the opening scene (see first clip above). Removed all diary-scenes and diary voice-overs plus a few shots that were clearly filler for voice-overs. Removed all references to the diaries, save for Borden's notebook (as it is an integral part of the story). Added soundeffects to scenes that in the original cut only featured music and voice-overs. Moved the single shot showing Borden's first Transported Man from start to finish from the confrontation scene at the end to the moment when he actually first performs it in the story. Added different music to the scene featuring Borden talking to Angier's double in a bar (see clip above). Without the parallel editing, it's a rather quiet scene, demanding less dynamic music. Added a fade to black at the end of the shot in which Borden is sentenced to death, followed by 1,5 seconds of black. Removed the shot just before the final confrontation between Borden and Angier when Cutter leaves the theater and Fellon enters. This is one of the two changes I consider a fanfix because I always felt this shot to unnecessary slow down the movie. Added 3 econds of black between the final confrontation scene and the final scene. The other fanfix is the replacement of the Tom Yorke song during the end titles with 'A New Trick' and 'Borden Meets Sarah' from the soundtrack album by David Julyan. I have nothing against Tom Yorke but I never felt his song fitted the movie. At 120 minutes this edit is 10 minutes shorter than the original cut.

Additional Notes:

A very simple strategy: show all scenes in chronological order and remove all references to the daries (except Borden's notebook) which aren't needed for this approach.

Other Sources:

The soundtrack cd by David Julyan.

Special Thanks:

JasonFlippy for valuable feedback.