The Illusionist

[owlectomy]

Here's the thing about twist endings:

When you don't see them coming, and you like the movie, you're never sure whether it's really a good movie or you're just impressed with the twist.

When you do see them coming, and you like the movie, you're never sure whether it's really a good movie or you're just impressed with yourself for figuring out the twist.

I read too many short-shorts as a child so I can often see a twist coming from a mile away; The Sixth Sense didn't surprise me. And neither did The Illusionist. But I can say it's a movie that absolutely plays fair with its audience. It's called The Illusionist! It's sleight-of-hand from beginning to end! It's like the YA novel The Thief: when you see a narrator deceiving everyone, you'd better believe he's going to deceive you too.

Aside from that: Pretty Edward Norton good, soft-focus love scenes bad. (Not wholly the fault of Jessica Biel, though I don't actually think she's capable of acting. It's just... melodrama. Enh.) And "pretty" isn't really fair to Edward Norton, who just about carries the whole movie with his acting alone, and I'm not the kind of person who usually notices acting unless it's really bad.

There's more than enough plot to build a very solid movie even without any kind of twist ending; and I liked that the twist ending wasn't just an opportunity to be clever about fooling the audience, but very much a case of structure and plot working together.

Thanks for the recommendation, Meaghan!

Comments

[meaghanchan.livejournal.com]

This is the SPOILER WARNING for people (who aren't Emily) who haven't seen this movie.

Thanks for articulating how I felt better than I could. The twist ending annoyed me a little, but what I felt was more than simple annoyance... It was a little annoyance for not entirely figuring out the ending (I was on the fence the entire movie-but one of my problems was that I couldn't really peg the genre right. Was it realism or fantasy? Of course, that was a fair place for the director to put me in, since the illusionist's audience is asking themselves the same question.

I liked a lot that it played fair. You couldn't really be annoyed with the movie because he tells you SO MANY TIMES, "this is not real, I am an illusionist, I have no magical powers". It's our (meaning my) own fault for not believing him. We can't even say he is really deceiving us- he is telling us the truth, and we want more from it. We want life to be a little more magical than that.

Agreed on all the other points- Jessica Biel, I have to say, kind of had the right face for the part (I thought she was a very pretty Eastern European princess) but she just, as you said, is not capable of acting. Which is unfortunate. And as much as I loved Edward Norton, you also have to give some props to Paul Giamatti- he was pretty great, too, and I liked the interplay between the two characters. It is a great cat-and-mouse game, reminding me in some ways of "Catch Me If You Can".

And the trick ending was really the best kind of trick ending... Completely in synergy with the theme, structure, and characters of the movie. The kind of reversal that reveals character, I think.

It'll be interesting to see and compare/contrast "The Prestige" when it comes out. I don't know if you've seen the trailer for this- it's Christian Bale (I forget who else) directed by Chris Nolan in a movie about (I think) two magicians in competition with each other. I heart Chris Nolan as a director- I know you didn't much care for "Batman Begins", but I loved it, and it just cemented him in my mind as a director to watch.

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, Paul Giamatti was great. The interplay between the two of them was really the heart of the whole movie... which served nicely to distract us from Dead Girl.

[meaghanchan.livejournal.com]

Oh also and thanks for the heads-up about Everclear's tour. I'm going to see them Tuesday!!!