The Illusionist

We saw The Illusionist last night. This will likely be an Oscar contender. The story is brilliant, but it's really the acting that sets it apart. The film is about a great stage magician, who does amazing tricks that can't be explained through any natural means. Considering The Prestige is coming out shortly, I didn't expect him to be an actual, true magician, but the film has you guessing until the end. Whether or not he is, I'll let you see the movie. Anyway, he has a duchess as a childhood friend, and as children, they fall in love. They are forceably parted, and he travels, eventually coming back to Vienna to do his truly incredible show.They meet up again, unfortunately now, she's almost-engaged to be married to the Crown Prince. They quickly acknowledge that they've been thinking about one another ever since they were parted, and drama ensues.

It's a complex and excellent story, but the acting was freakin' amazing. Paul Giamatti plays the detective inspector who is in the employ of the Crown Prince, and it's one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen him do, possibly one of the more amazing I've seen anybody do. He was entirely different from his usual persona, and displayed his thoughts and feelings with a subtlety I haven't seen in a long time. Edward Norton, in the title role, developed a complex and dynamic character, portraying an exceptional showman with a depth that is pretty impressive. Edward Norton typically portrays deep characters, and is an impressive actor, but his performance was pretty much par for the course. This doesn't mean it wasn't good, just not exceptional. Another brilliant, but probably underrated, performance was Rufus Sewell, as the Crown Prince. I like Rufus Sewell, I think he's an interesting presence, but I never really considered him a great actor. I'm glad to see this show, because, much like Giamatti, he had a subtle performance and was completely unlike his usual role. Jessica Beil, as the duchess in question, was even pretty impressive, based off her usual performance. It was a moderately generic character, but she played it well.

I highly recommend this film. See it as soon as you can.