Magic Time
Magic.
Which brings us around to a little known film called The Illusionist.
A brilliant tapestry of deceit and wonder burdened with magic. It feels like you’re caught in web of intrigue. Not to mention it’s a love story. Houdini would’ve been proud.
Because I have watched the film The Prestige, another excellently made film about magic, I did not go see the film Illusionist based on the fact that I’ve seen a film like it already. It makes for difficulty that the two films were released around the same time. The other film, The Prestige, earned higher markings as they had an incredible star power, not to mention both Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. It was a heavyweight film that rolls through the audiences like a steam engine, massive and exciting.
So I didn’t go see the Illusionist.
That was a mistake.
Seeing this film, it breaks my heart that I haven’t done a review of this before.
Director/Screenwriter Neil Burger captures the imagination of the early twentieth century. It was at a high time for pretender magicians and supernatural interest in the audiences. There was not a break from believing in other worldly matters.
It is a romantic story. There’s no doubt about this. But there are complexities and layers of the story that involves three people in a troubled romance. Ed Norton and Jessica Beil are childhood lovers who seek to find a way to their soul-searing romance… the fact that they belong to different classes doesn’t help much. She’s a rich girl. And he’s a poor fellow.
The film works as a minimalist one. Everything seems confined, fixed. Even the sets in which the magician performs regularly his acts of miracles seem lonely. It is a bitter thing, his stage. He is a loner who works his wonders. Norton, as always, is a fine actor. And here, he clearly conveys the inward tortured soul of a man who knows no heart.
Norton has traveled across the Easter and Western worlds, and also in the deep pockets of the African jungles, to learn the greater secrets of magic. It’s about a journey to the secret chamber of his heart. The ideas and concepts of magic has opened new doorways for him, broadened his experiences. Only to find the woman of his love, a figure of his childhood memory, is being engaged to a brutal, dictatorial bastard. A Crown Prince Leopold deliciously played by Rufus Sewell who is using his marriage to further his own ambitions and goals.
Norton loves her for who she is. A beautiful woman. The prince loves her for only one thing. Power.
And downward the slippery slopes of politics does the three main characters go. Yes, it feels like a melodrama of sorts. The people in it are hopefully and madly in love. But the picture is painted differently when the apparent death of Beil’s character sets to shred the story apart. And you feel sympathetic for Norton’s lonely, tragic feelings.
Think again. I won’t tell you everything about the film’s ending. But his artistic mastery of illusions and strokes of genius plotting makes him a bitter foe and a remarkable opponent. It feels like a game of chess between him and the Crown Prince. Their anger towards each other over the loved one.
Their madness grows. The supernatural thread of the story continues to mesmerize the audiences until they are in riots. But Norton promises that he’ll bring down the royalty. He becomes a Machiavellian of magical arts.
The film makes for a stunningly visual feasts, picking up little details that makes it feel like a silent movie. The lovely countryside scenes boasts of a sadness and loss. The eerie glows of street lamps cast a dim, scattered light across the cement roads and the dark alleys that make for Vienna’s finest lovely sites.
But it is the magician that plays his last hand that doesn’t feel like he’s cheated you. Instead, you feel like you’ve gone along for a ride. And there’s a certain elegancy in that punches through the story’s more romantic charms. And it leaves you a kind of witness looking through the Gypsy glass orb. Letting you see a peek into the future.
A worthy admission of filmmaking that shouldn’t be neglected.
Is there such a thing as magic?
You might be surprised.
Which brings us around to a little known film called The Illusionist.
A brilliant tapestry of deceit and wonder burdened with magic. It feels like you’re caught in web of intrigue. Not to mention it’s a love story. Houdini would’ve been proud.
Because I have watched the film The Prestige, another excellently made film about magic, I did not go see the film Illusionist based on the fact that I’ve seen a film like it already. It makes for difficulty that the two films were released around the same time. The other film, The Prestige, earned higher markings as they had an incredible star power, not to mention both Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. It was a heavyweight film that rolls through the audiences like a steam engine, massive and exciting.
So I didn’t go see the Illusionist.
That was a mistake.
Seeing this film, it breaks my heart that I haven’t done a review of this before.
Director/Screenwriter Neil Burger captures the imagination of the early twentieth century. It was at a high time for pretender magicians and supernatural interest in the audiences. There was not a break from believing in other worldly matters.
It is a romantic story. There’s no doubt about this. But there are complexities and layers of the story that involves three people in a troubled romance. Ed Norton and Jessica Beil are childhood lovers who seek to find a way to their soul-searing romance… the fact that they belong to different classes doesn’t help much. She’s a rich girl. And he’s a poor fellow.
The film works as a minimalist one. Everything seems confined, fixed. Even the sets in which the magician performs regularly his acts of miracles seem lonely. It is a bitter thing, his stage. He is a loner who works his wonders. Norton, as always, is a fine actor. And here, he clearly conveys the inward tortured soul of a man who knows no heart.
Norton has traveled across the Easter and Western worlds, and also in the deep pockets of the African jungles, to learn the greater secrets of magic. It’s about a journey to the secret chamber of his heart. The ideas and concepts of magic has opened new doorways for him, broadened his experiences. Only to find the woman of his love, a figure of his childhood memory, is being engaged to a brutal, dictatorial bastard. A Crown Prince Leopold deliciously played by Rufus Sewell who is using his marriage to further his own ambitions and goals.
Norton loves her for who she is. A beautiful woman. The prince loves her for only one thing. Power.
And downward the slippery slopes of politics does the three main characters go. Yes, it feels like a melodrama of sorts. The people in it are hopefully and madly in love. But the picture is painted differently when the apparent death of Beil’s character sets to shred the story apart. And you feel sympathetic for Norton’s lonely, tragic feelings.
Think again. I won’t tell you everything about the film’s ending. But his artistic mastery of illusions and strokes of genius plotting makes him a bitter foe and a remarkable opponent. It feels like a game of chess between him and the Crown Prince. Their anger towards each other over the loved one.
Their madness grows. The supernatural thread of the story continues to mesmerize the audiences until they are in riots. But Norton promises that he’ll bring down the royalty. He becomes a Machiavellian of magical arts.
The film makes for a stunningly visual feasts, picking up little details that makes it feel like a silent movie. The lovely countryside scenes boasts of a sadness and loss. The eerie glows of street lamps cast a dim, scattered light across the cement roads and the dark alleys that make for Vienna’s finest lovely sites.
But it is the magician that plays his last hand that doesn’t feel like he’s cheated you. Instead, you feel like you’ve gone along for a ride. And there’s a certain elegancy in that punches through the story’s more romantic charms. And it leaves you a kind of witness looking through the Gypsy glass orb. Letting you see a peek into the future.
A worthy admission of filmmaking that shouldn’t be neglected.
Is there such a thing as magic?
You might be surprised.
posted by K.M. Paters at 2:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home