The Illusionist: A review
I went in not expecting much, and left giggling with joy. I can't remember the last time I felt so happy about seeing a movie. It's is no illusion..it's a great movie. The Illusionist is based on a short story by Steven Millhauser, who if you haven't read, you should because his stories are bizarre and funny and wonderful. The acting was superb. Not only that, but each character just looked and sounded great on screen. I can't explain it. There were a lot of tight shots on the characters thinking or reacting or talking, and everyone just had such an interesting looking face. And the voice acting was done nicely. The voices sounded so important, so...crispy. There was a lot of emphasis on the characters themselves, almost more so than the story itself, which makes sense since the story was very character driven. The Cinamatography was beautiful, and the sets were detailed and pleasing to the eye. (of course, who doesn't love Victorian Vienna? Who?) The story had a beautiful arch, the plot kept me wondering where it could possibly be going next, I loved and cared for Edward Norton's character, Eisenheim, the script never felt forced or weird, and the magic tricks were original. A lot of slight of hand, but also a lot of fascinating stuff I've never seen before that gave it a really special feeling. And like Dylan said in his post about Ricky Jay, all of the tricks in the movie are real tricks that could have been done at the turn of the century. There is no CG. The music also had a huge effect on my love for this movie. Of course it did, it was done by Philip Glass. The ending was truly satisfying, and I found myself thinking about the movie all that night and the next day.
the only part I didn't love was the sex scene because it was corny and not very imaginitive, but they kept it brief so I forgive them.
It's an all-around well-crafted movie driven by good storytelling and good characters. It's like a really awesome kids movie for grownups Don't believe what the crappy Trailer makes this movie seem like.
If you like Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, good plotlines, Steven Millhauser, magic tricks, Victoriana, Philip Glass, or things that are awesome, you should see this movie. (And don't worry, I know you don't like Jessica Biel, but believe it or not, she's pretty decent in it). Yay Illusionist!
