magic
In a way this post follows my previous one, because people's desire to believe in magic is not dissimilar from their desire for religion, although religion's 'pay off' is always in the after-life and magic provides the astonishment and wonder in the here and now (okay, the 'miracles' of both are the feeling of child-like awe changing our view of reality, that dull flat relative existence).
I went to see The Prestige today, and I loved it; I'm recommending it highly.
shadowkat67 had said to come with your brain and pay attention, and in fact the film admonishes the audience to watch closely. I actually saw both aspects of the ending coming, but that didn't reduce my thrill at the twists and turns throughout the film. It is a beautifully made film with a really wonderful cast, and I didn't feel that they hit a single false note. Hugh Jackman was handsome and very appealing as the showman, Christian Bale was hard and cold as the technician, and both played young men obsessed. I'm not writing any spoilers, but the movie is layers upon layers of magic tricks, slight of hand, and rivalries. I hear that there have been bad reviews, and I find myself wondering if it is just people who weren't paying attention, or maybe there are people who don't find magic itself to be interesting?
When The Prestige ended I snuck into The Illusionist, I don't feel guilty about that...I paid $6.75 for The Prestige, but I also paid an extra $9 for a chocolate milk shake and a bag of popcorn (that is $4.50 for about a nickle's worth of popcorn), which is only worth it if you are going to a double feature.... At any rate The Illusionist is a very different film, about a very different magician...but still an obsessed young man, courting disaster, and a beautifully filmed movie with a great cast. I think I enjoyed it just as much as the first one.
I had the opportunity to have a very slight acquaintance with Doug Henning, who was quite the break out magician in his day (in the 1970's when he had a sold out hit magic show on Broadway, called The Magic Show). One of the things that made him a stand-out was that he avoided the 'up the sleeve' gimmicks, he always wore a tight long sleeved t-shirt on stage, which had a more modern look than the old tuxedos, but also meant he really couldn't hide anything up his sleave. But of course he did require the black background on the stage, to hide wires, and he did have an amazingly close 'double' among his assistants on stage. However magic isn't always gimmicks and tricks, there is tremendous training involved in learning slight of hand and doing it smoothly and seamlessly. I was lucky enough to get to see Doug once, in his home, practicing...he practiced his slight of hand diligently every day, because it was important to keep up his skills.
When Hugh Jackman was doing the rounds, promoting The Prestige, he did a little slight of hand on the Live With Regis & Kelly show, and I have to say I was impressed with how well he did it, it takes both a lot of work and a lot of confidence to get the motion so smooth. Movies are a kind of magic, and actors work very hard to create their illusions, all the tricks of great camera men and great directors can't really replace the actor's work of creating characters. I'm not sure I identified with any of the magicians who I saw on screen today, but I certainly found them all compelling and interesting, and I definitely believed in their obsession with magic.
I went to see The Prestige today, and I loved it; I'm recommending it highly.
shadowkat67 had said to come with your brain and pay attention, and in fact the film admonishes the audience to watch closely. I actually saw both aspects of the ending coming, but that didn't reduce my thrill at the twists and turns throughout the film. It is a beautifully made film with a really wonderful cast, and I didn't feel that they hit a single false note. Hugh Jackman was handsome and very appealing as the showman, Christian Bale was hard and cold as the technician, and both played young men obsessed. I'm not writing any spoilers, but the movie is layers upon layers of magic tricks, slight of hand, and rivalries. I hear that there have been bad reviews, and I find myself wondering if it is just people who weren't paying attention, or maybe there are people who don't find magic itself to be interesting?
When The Prestige ended I snuck into The Illusionist, I don't feel guilty about that...I paid $6.75 for The Prestige, but I also paid an extra $9 for a chocolate milk shake and a bag of popcorn (that is $4.50 for about a nickle's worth of popcorn), which is only worth it if you are going to a double feature.... At any rate The Illusionist is a very different film, about a very different magician...but still an obsessed young man, courting disaster, and a beautifully filmed movie with a great cast. I think I enjoyed it just as much as the first one.
I had the opportunity to have a very slight acquaintance with Doug Henning, who was quite the break out magician in his day (in the 1970's when he had a sold out hit magic show on Broadway, called The Magic Show). One of the things that made him a stand-out was that he avoided the 'up the sleeve' gimmicks, he always wore a tight long sleeved t-shirt on stage, which had a more modern look than the old tuxedos, but also meant he really couldn't hide anything up his sleave. But of course he did require the black background on the stage, to hide wires, and he did have an amazingly close 'double' among his assistants on stage. However magic isn't always gimmicks and tricks, there is tremendous training involved in learning slight of hand and doing it smoothly and seamlessly. I was lucky enough to get to see Doug once, in his home, practicing...he practiced his slight of hand diligently every day, because it was important to keep up his skills.
When Hugh Jackman was doing the rounds, promoting The Prestige, he did a little slight of hand on the Live With Regis & Kelly show, and I have to say I was impressed with how well he did it, it takes both a lot of work and a lot of confidence to get the motion so smooth. Movies are a kind of magic, and actors work very hard to create their illusions, all the tricks of great camera men and great directors can't really replace the actor's work of creating characters. I'm not sure I identified with any of the magicians who I saw on screen today, but I certainly found them all compelling and interesting, and I definitely believed in their obsession with magic.