I recall the Whispers scene but not breaking the fourth wall over the bowl of Total. That’s really interesting. It seemed as though they chose to do background narrative for the retrospective scenes (everything leading to the hotel and hit), so I’ll have to watch that scene again!
If you rewatch, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I've also thought a lot about how breaking the fourth wall probably relates to the flashback-within-a-flashback structure of the film, but it's such a subtle thing.
I need to rewatch this tonight. Gives me an excuse to redo every Russell conversation, which are the best!
I specifically note the fact that in the Total scene, there's a wide shot that establishes the fact that there's nothing on the wall where Frank is looking. But there he is, looking over Russell's shoulder and straight down the barrel of the lens for some reason.
Given the calibre of the director and actor involved, it can't be an accident.