The Illusionist
"The Illusionist" is a solid movie that piqued my interest and kept me entertained until the very end. The movie stars Ed Norton as Eisenheim, a famous illusionist in nineteenth century Vienna who was so convincing that he formed occult status. Eisenheim falls for the fiancee of the crown prince and much intrigue and romance ensues. Paul Giamatti stars as a police inspector who investigates the tricks and exploits of the magician. Although one may call "The Illusionist" a humdrum whodunit, the movie is quite skillful in how it examines the serpentine trail of crime, jealousy, and romance. ED Norton is a fine actor who brings a mixture of mystery and humility to Eisenheim. Giamatti is jarringly memorable as the bearded inspector. To my surprise, Jessica Biel plays the fiancee character with great finesse. Finally, the director masterfully balanced light and dark forces while giving an older, rusty look to the film by using various camera filters. Oddly enough, there are 3 films dealing with magicians and illusionists being released in the next few weeks. I cannot explain the sudden interests in ambidextrous entertainers. I can hope, however, that the other two movies are as good as "The Illusionist."
4.5
4.5
posted by Unknown at 2:16 PM
1 Comments:
the plot leads the viewer along pleasantly but the "the usual suspects" - style epiphany ending is a bit of a cop-out; it is not mesmerizing like the keyser soze montage. jessica biel is the protoype Beautiful, Feisty Woman (they even managed to cast a Beautiful, Feisty girl who looks impressively like biel to play the younger version) while ed norton is charming as ever. giamatti does a fine job, but every time i see him i get flustered that such an ugly son of a gun can get such great roles and be a respected actor, while an equally skilled and equally unattractive female actor would be laughed out of town. hollywood is more forgiving and generous to men.
back to the illusionist - i'm not sure what we are supposed to think about the actual illusions that eisenheim performs - i don't think the movie is going for magic realism, but we don't get any hints about how several of them work, and it'd be much more impressive to me if i had reason to think that these illusions could be realized outside of a movie. the worst part was that I had to watch this movie sitting next to jeff.
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