We went to see The Illusionist the other day, and it was brilliant. Whilst there were a few superficial similarities to The Prestige (both films involve stage magic), The Illusionist is a much nicer film, and the surprise twist at the end leaves you feeling good about humanity instead of despairing (which was the effect of the surprise twist at the end of The Prestige).
The Illusionist has a fairy-tale quality: boy meets beautiful princess and they pledge undying love, then she gets engaged to a prince she doesn't love.... (I can't of course tell you the outcome as that would spoil the surprise). The production values and the acting were excellent, and a lot of it was filmed in Prague (even though it's set in Vienna), and as I love Prague, this was good. I recognised several locations as places I had visited. All in all, highly recommended. (Unless you are one of those people with not an ounce of romance in your shrivelled soul.)
1 comment:
Funny, that was the effect on me of reading The Separation. Won the BSFA and Arthur C. Clarke awards, friends raved about it, and I agree it's spectacularly cunning and intelligent, but...one doesn't come away from it feeling too good about humanity. The cloud it cast didn't lift any upon reading interviews with Priest, either.
Post a Comment