The Illusionist

Distributed by Yari Film Group Releasing, The Illusionist is an American romantic mystery movie. The movie stars Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel and is directed by Neil Burger. The movie is based on Steven Millhauser’s short story on Eisenheim the illusionist who is a magician in Vienna.

The plot of the movie is set in early 20th century Vienna, where a young boy is caught in an adolescent fling with a high-class duchess. The boy and his family are cast out of Vienna. This poor boy returns to Vienna 15 years later as a celebrated Illusionist who performs tricks like raising flowers from a dirt pot and pulling disappearing acts. Eisenheim’s show draws interest from the crown prince of Austria and he attends the shows with his fiancée, who is in fact the duchess, Eisenheim’s love from when he was younger. This sparks rivalry between the prince and the trickster.

With Prague recast as Vienna, the Illusionist is a great period movie with meticulous special effects that establish vaguely sinister aura. With the help of great Ricky Jay, the performance of the magician is enhanced with incorporated CGI and authentically old-fashioned special effects. But what really intrigues the viewers is the actual magician who hides all his tricks behind a poker face. Since magic is a difficult art to portray onto the screen in the form of live action, the movie depended on computer generated special effects.

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