Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a pair of reviews from Sundance. We've gotten some word on Fabian Belinksky's EL AURA so far and it's all been gold. This is the first review we got for THE ILLUSIONIST and while it is kind of shakey-hand, they do seem to confirm that the actors in the film (Paul Giamatti, Ed Norton, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell) are worth watching the movie for. Here are the reviews from "KB." Enjoy!
"The Aura" is the second film by Argentinian filmmaker Fabian Belinsky, who made the admired "Nine Queens," which I haven't seen yet. Accordingly to Belinsky (and he'd know, right?), "Nine Queens" was a fast-paced, light-hearted, effervescent kind of movie. "The Aura," by contrast, is slow and contemplative. It concerns a nameless, introverted taxidermist who like to fantasize about daring robberies. When circumstances conspire to give him a chance to participate in a real heist, he goes along with the flow of things, quietly fascinated by the bizarre situation he's found himself in, and resolved to see it through to the end. Like its protagonist, "The Aura" is thoughtful and unhurried, sometimes to a fault (in my opinion, the movie contains one too many shots of a pick-up truck driving through isolated mountain roads). But Belinsky knows how to craft an elegant crime narrative, and those with the patience to bear with his studied pace will be rewarded with an artful, clever, poetic film. I definitely want to see "Nine Queens" now.
"The Illusionist" stars Edward Norton as Eisenheim, a brilliant magician in nineteenth-century Vienna who discovers that his childhood sweetheart (Jessica Biel) is engaged to the brutal crown prince of Austria (Rufus Sewell). At a time when conjurers were believed to be endowed with real supernatural powers - to be students of "the dark arts" - an unwary magician could easily run afoul of civil and religious authorities, and, indeed, Eisenheim finds himself under continual investigation by Vienna's Chief Inspector (Paul Giamatti). Unfortunately, "The Illusionist" delves very little into the fascinating details of the stage illusionist's trade; in fact, one of the tricks it portrays - the creation of fully interactive, intangible human figures - is simply impossible with nineteenth-century technology. For an independent feature, "The Illusionist" has a very Hollywood kind of mentality, and would much rather placate its audience than astound them; as a result, the "twist" that ends the movie is one you can see a mile off. Edward Norton has a nice intensity, Jessica Biel is pretty but not nearly naked enough, and Paul Giamatti is (no surprise) absolutely wonderful.
