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28 September 2006

The Illusionist is a very fine movie, and I think you should go see it. Based on this story by Steven Millhauser, whom I now want to read. Philip Glass score, set in fin de seicle Vienna, filmed in Prague...[More:]...detail-perfect period atmosphere, mystery, suspense, romance, power struggles, warm lamplight, galloping horses, and good storytelling. Just one of those very good films. Word has it that the lead, Edward Norton, studied with these magicians, to create illusions in as analog a way as possible, using the techniques of 100 years ago and minimizing movie effects.

When the stock parlor question 'where would you go if you could go back in time' comes up, my answer is always the same in category, though the specifics change. I would like to see the entertainments and spectacles of the fifty years before electronic mass media arrived. The late Victorian and Edwardian spectacle shows like these, the incredible circuses and acrobatics, the Twain and Dickens readings, the Expositions and Wild West Shows and Centennials and World's Fairs. With all our electronic fancy pantsness, I don't think showmanship has ever reached to greater heights than it did just before TV.
Cool! I want to see it.
posted by dhruva 28 September | 23:24
I saw this too! I recommend it too! I really liked it. Also it has Paul Giamatti.
posted by halonine 29 September | 01:26
Philip Glass! Why don't they advertise that?

Now I gotta see it in the theatre.
posted by mischief 29 September | 02:03
I had no idea it was based on a Milhauser story before I went to go see it. Oddly enough, just a few days before I had received an Amazon shipment of a few of his novels and books of short stores.

Anyway, the movie was very good. Giamatti is excellent in it.
posted by mullacc 29 September | 02:08
I liked The Illusionist quite a bit, though the story's beefed up a lot in order to make Millhauser's short story into a feature-length film (most importantly, Jessica Biel's character is "based" on a single paragraph from Millhauser).

Also, some of the things that happen in the Millhauser story would have been prohibitively expensive to film, given the movie's budget. Though The Illusionist did a very good job of looking beautiful for relatively little money.
posted by Prospero 29 September | 07:01
Everything Millhauser touches is golden. Thanks for the rec on the movie.
posted by jessamyn 29 September | 08:16
I love Steven Millhauser.
posted by matildaben 29 September | 09:26
Toy Soldiers in Peril! || I'm freaking out.

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