The Illusionist

Rating: 8/10 (2 September 2006)

The Illusionist is based on the short story Eisenheim The Illusionist by Steven Millhauser. The film is set in the late 1800's and is about a magician named Eisenheim who does magic shows in theatres. As a child Eisenheim fell in love with a girl named Sophie, but her parents did not allow them to see each other anymore. Years later as adults now Eisenheim meets up with Sophie again and she is engaged to the crown prince named Leopold. Eisenheim hopes to use his illusions to get Sophie back to him. Also after a murder is committed in town Eisenheim helps to show Chief Inspector Uhl and the rest of the town who the killer is using his magic and illusions. The Illusionist has good direction, a good adapted screenplay, good performances by the entire cast, good original music, good cinematography, good film editing, good production design, good set decoration, good costumes and good makeup. The film is very good looking and everything is down to the very littlest detail making the film look like it takes place in the 1800's and the whole crew who made it look like that did a very good job. The story is very original and I liked the romance part of the movie, the mystery and even the scenes where Eisenheim is performing his illusions. The film at least for me was completely unpredictable and lots of surprises lay ahead for me and they were good surprises and added a lot to it. The film is well made in pretty much every way and the story had a good pace I thought and really drew me into the movie and it kept my interest very well without ever losing me. Even watching the scenes with the magic tricks were really neat to watch and just as the audience in the movie was amazed by the tricks I enjoyed watching them from where I sat as well. I again compliment the movie on it's very original story and a lot of imagination and creativity went into this script and it blends well with the different genres of the film. I was very pleased to see my local theatre get this film seeing as it is an independent film and as much as I liked it I would have to say the audience who I saw the film with really enjoyed it as well, so I applaud my local theatre for getting this film and I hope more people go see it. This film is award worthy in many different ways and at the end of the movie I was very satisfied by what I had seen. One of the best looking and more original films of the year and also one of the best.