The Illusionist

Movie: The Illusionist

Genre: Animated

Synopsis: This takes place in 1959.  The Illusionist is a rather elegant aging magician who excels at slight-of-hand tricks.  The problem is that there is just no longer much of a demand for his type of show.  While playing at a pub in Scotland he meets a young girl named Alice.  She is enthralled by him and he takes a fatherly interest in her.  When he leaves, she goes with him. The movie follows them as he tries to provide for her from his ever decreasing income while she is getting her first taste of city life.

My two cents: The best word I have come across (courtesy of Roger Ebert) to describe the emotion this movie produced is melancholy.  The old man just cannot seem to catch a break.  I enjoyed the movie, but was often scratching my head in puzzlement.  There is very little dialogue.  About half of what little there is seemed to be just mumbling.  The rest seemed to be a mix of French and English and something I did not recognize.  The music was as much responsible for generating my feeling of melancholy as the movie.

The movie has a really interesting background.  I would suggest reading Roger Ebert’s rather extensive review at: http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110112/REVIEWS/110119994

Bottom line: this movie is not for everyone, but if you don’t mind some slow-moving, sweetly melancholy animation with some nice, but equally melancholy music - give this a try.

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