A Grand Illusion

Fast forward to the spring of 2007....

And the Oscar goes to..... The Illusionist

And the best Supporting Actor Oscar goes to..... Paul Giamatti
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I'm not very good at writing movie reviews, so I'll try to keep this short, er, try to ...

I'll just say that Neil Burger's 'The Illusionist' is just superb. It is based on a short story called 'Eisenheim the Illusionist' by Steven Millhauser. It is beautifully filmed, strong direction, well acted and a terrific story. It takes place in 1900, an era that has always fascinated me. There are two things I look for, in determining a good film - 1) My own interest level, and 2) the audience reaction at the closing credits. Here, two-thirds of the audience just sat there, quite mesmerized. The movie certainly weaved its magic on these folks, and in turn, validated my enjoyment of the film. The last time I saw an audience react like this, it was Schindler's List. On that night, nobody stirred, not even a mouse. Edward Norton does a solid, engaging job as the lead character, and since I'm not an actor myself (nor play one on TV), I really have little sense whether he is worthy an Oscar nomination. But I do know, Paul Giamatti stole the whole film for me. He was just terrific, funny and quite memorable.

You know, this has been such a horrible year for movies, and so this was such a breath of fresh air.

A warning on expectations please.... you have just read a very glowing review of this movie (including some bold Oscar predictions!) which only means I had a wonderful experience watching it. Please don't fall into the trap of going into the theatre with unrealistic expectations. It is just a film, one that hit me just right, but it is a film - it will not change your life.

[Of course, now that I wrote this, it probably won't even get nominated.... Sigh]