Mini-review: The Illusionist

Cyndi and I went to see The Illusionist last weekend. It's the story of a poor boy and a girl from a rich family set in Vienna in the (I'd guess) late 1800s or early 1900s. It stars Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, and the wonderful Paul Giamatti. The boy in the movie has a way with magic and becomes friends with the girl. Circumstances tear them apart and the boy leaves to travel the world. He returns as a man (played by Norton), having acheived fame and fortune as an illusionist. He wants to find the girl, now a woman (played by Biel), but circumstances haven't changed; she's now betrothed (sort of) to the Crown Prince.

As you can probably tell, I'm trying to be somewhat vague in my description. This movie becomes a mystery and I don't want to give away any of the clues. So, I'll just heap praise upon it instead.

It's a great movie. The music is good and the cinematography is awesome. They make use of some really old-school effects and (I think) the edges of the film were burned in a bit throughout. All of the actors are great, but of course, my favorite performance was Paul Giamatti as the chief inspector, charged with solving the mystery. This may be the least Giamatti-esque role he's played. He hardly even sounded like himself. The character is also the best in the film; it's the most conflicted and the one that experiences the biggest change.

So, go see it. It's great; I loved it.