Tucker's Take on "The Illusionist"

The Illusionist

with Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, & Jessica Biel.

This is a gorgeous, extremely artful presentation of a rather pedestrian story. If you can't figure out what's going on, you haven't seen many movies nor read many books. Nonetheless, the cast is superb (Biel is beautiful and capable; Norton is intense and mysterious, and Giamatti, of whom to be truthful I would have thought I would begin to tire, continues to mine nuanced depth from a solid base of now-familiar mannerisms). The setting is turn-of-the-century Vienna, and the art direction is sumptuous -- like any period piece worth its weight, half the fun is in transporting oneself to another time and place and the movie delivers nicely. One might complain that there's an over abundance of sienna-tinting involved, but I felt it worked well. If you have the slightest interest in magic and implied mysticism, you'll probably enjoy this movie simply on those merits, but even if not, I would recommend this for its solid acting and atmosphere.

--
Lyle Tucker