So here’s a film I can talk about openly. I’m a bit of a sucker for films about magic, and Ricky Jay was a consultant on The Illusionist so I had to see it.
We’ve had quite a long for this film, since it’s similar in story to The Prestige which came out around the same time in the States. I still haven’t seen The Prestige (although I note it’s released on DVD on Monday), although I did read the book.
And there’s a similar problem with both stories in that although they’re superficially about magic, they’re really about magick, with unexplainable things that aren’t performed so much as added-in in FX.
Edward Norton is an Austrian magician called Eisenheim who once fell in love with Jessica Biel’ Sophie when they were kids. Now he’s travelled the world studying magic and a chance encounter reawakens their feelings for one another.
Cue various seemingly impossible tricks performed in 19th century theatres. It’s all passably entertaining, but I came away disappointed.