In 1889 Vienna, Austria-Hungary, a magician named Eisenheim is arrested by Chief Inspector Walter Uhl of the Vienna Police during a magic show involving necromancy. Later, Uhl explains the story of Eisenheim’s life to Crown Prince Leopold.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum’s review in The Chicago Reader praised Paul Giamatti’s performance of “a character who feels sympathy for the magician but owes allegiance to Leopold and is therefore divided and compromised … Giamatti’s performance is subtle, expressive, and richly nuanced.”[13] Stephen Holden, in his review for The New York Times, praised Edward Norton’s role, which, according to him, “perfectly fits his disturbing inscrutability”.[14] Variety wrote that Jessica Biel “is entirely stunning enough to fight to the death over”.[15] Roger Ebert rated 3.5/4 and wrote that, “The movie sets up a fascinating parable about art, religion and politics, and the misty boundaries between them”.[16]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illusionist_(2006_film)
The link from above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2krcvO3z1A
I’d heard about this movie before but kind of ignored it, dunno why…I’m interested in the time period and I’ve known some stage magicians so I should have been into it sooner. Once I watched like 10 minutes tho, even as background, I was really into it. The story’s a little bit predictable but still satisfying… it’s shot well too (cinematographer was nominated for an Oscar) and the soundtrack (by Philip Glass) is great… The movie reaches for a couple weighty themes and it ALMOST reaches them… or maybe it does, I dunno…
Anyway check it out, it’s only been up 3 days tho I think the folks who put it up actually have licensed it tho who knows how long they’ll keep it up anyways.