Posted 07 May 2018 - 12:58 PM
Re: JOHN WICK....and the coins....(I just finally got around to watching Part 2....it was AMAZING).
I could be wrong but it APPEARED as if John paid either the Suitmaker or the Somalier in a STACK of coins rather than just one, which implies they hold a certain value and are not just symbolic?
I could see it being like what Apt says, where they hold an intrinsic high value. Like the homeless guy who takes Wick to see Morpheus....one coin to hide him, kill those searching for him, and take him to the master...does he do that because of symbolism, or because some guy just paid him the equivalent of a grand to do so? But then no one ever seems to get change, so when Cassian pays with one for John and He to get a drink at the Continental in Rome...that seems like an excessive about for a gin and a bourbon, even at a fancy hotel bar.
EDIT: According to the director it's a bit of both...
Our whole reason for the coin, for instance, comes from the cold war. Spies back in the day used gold coins. You could melt it, it was non-identifying, and everyone in the world accepts gold. We thought, ‘what’s an international currency? Gold coins? Done.’ Then we thought 'let’s put a special stamp on them.' Then you have the gold coin as part membership card and payment.
..and
Look at Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad And The Ugly—there is so much back-story unsaid there. We’re big fans of leaving it to your imagination. We just give you some gold coins, and then it's, “Where do the gold coins come from?” We’ll get to that. Have your imagination do some work there.
"When the last tree has fallen, and the rivers are poisoned, you cannot eat money, oh no." ~Aurora
"Someone will always try to sell you despair, just so they don't feel alone." ~Ursula Vernon