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.