The Illusionist - film review
Jan. 25th, 2014 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1) A friend of mine doesn't like reviews. Films, books, tv shows...she fears being spoiled. And she doesn't want to know the small details of why people liked or disliked them. She feels that reviewer is either doing it to be important, or to rant, or ...and she wants to make up her own mind.
I, however, adore reviews. Always have. I entertain myself on my lunch break at work - reading the reviews on Amazon and Good Reads. Prefer Amazon's, Good Reads has this nasty habit of posting non-worksafe GIF's...seriously, why? It's annoying and adds little to the review.
Anyhow, I love to read and write reviews. I like to know what others think about a movie or book or tv show or play. I watch the theater reviews on NY1. On Amazon and Good Reads, I make a point of reading the worst and best reviews. I want to see both sides. I like the contradiction. The trick with reviews is not to take them personally - which is easier said than done. Trust me, I know. But they aren't about "you" or the "writer" or often even the item being reviewed, they are about the person critiquing the work - what works for them, what bugs them, what turns them on, what doesn't. And in order to know whether or not to watch the film, tv show, or read the book - being reviewed, you first have to determine if you share the reviewers taste. It's more than likely you don't - which means if they love something, you'll hate it, and if they hate it, you'll love it. Or, you may share some of their tastes but not all of them.
Reading bad reviews - often will spark my curiousity and make me want to read a book or watch a tv series - because I'll want to know why someone else hated it. Often, I don't get it. Sometimes that's a bigger motivator than if they loved it. Hyped shows, films and books often turn me off. I didn't read Harry Potter when it first came out - because of the hype.
Other times, it will spark curiousity - such as the Titantic (which disappointed me).
Writing them...is fun as well, although I have no interest in getting paid for it.
2. Film Review of The Illusionist
Finished watching The Illusionist - a French animated film, that was nominated for an Oscar but got beat out by one of the Pixars...shame, because it is a unique piece of film. Sort of bittersweet. There's no dialogue, just a soft lilting soundtrack, like a silent film. And the animation is old style...1920s, or so it appears, while the time period is 1950s.
It's about a magician or illusionist, who does his magic act to dwindling crowds, until he's pushed aside by rock musicians. Hooks up with a young girl that he meets in Scotland, and lives platonically with her for a bit in Edinburough. No longer able to practice magic, because his act is no longer bringing in clients - he takes random jobs...until finally, the girl falls in love, and the illusionist gives up his dream of being a magician and wanders on.
The problem with being an artist...is it's hard to get seen. And often, you can be an active artist - but if you aren't wildly popular...
Many actors that I've met - will tell me they are actors, and I'll ask what have you been in? And they'll tell me. But I often haven't seen the movies or tv shows or theater bits they've done. In some cases the movies don't get widely distributed and go straight to DVD, in other cases - they've done a pilot, various television pilots - but they never aired, or they had bit parts - which you don't notice. Or they are doing commercials. Or that play out in Syracuse, NY. They are actors. Working actors.
Same deal with writing. I write. I am a writer. I've written numerous short stories, novels, meta, blog posts, poetry, business reports, legal memorandums, a couple of articles, etc. And I've been trained as a writer - having taken various writing courses, and workshops. But if I'm not published - or my work isn't handy or readily available - a lot of people may not consider me a writer. But I am. I write for a living. Every day. Then I come home and write some more. On a daily basis I write approximately 10-15 pages, sometimes 100. I'm compelled to write. Writing to me is akin to breathing. I get paid for technical and legal/financial writing. But for joy, I write blog posts, creatively, etc.
In The Illusionist - at the very end, disillusioned, the old man writes a goodbye note to the young girl - it simply states "Magicians Do Not Exist". Yet, on the train ride, he performs a sleight of hand to entertain a small child, who barely takes notice.
I think in our hurly-burly world...we often don't see the magic or the art...too determined to define and categorize...when often life is not definable.
It's a thoughtful, but sad little film. Well worth a look.
I, however, adore reviews. Always have. I entertain myself on my lunch break at work - reading the reviews on Amazon and Good Reads. Prefer Amazon's, Good Reads has this nasty habit of posting non-worksafe GIF's...seriously, why? It's annoying and adds little to the review.
Anyhow, I love to read and write reviews. I like to know what others think about a movie or book or tv show or play. I watch the theater reviews on NY1. On Amazon and Good Reads, I make a point of reading the worst and best reviews. I want to see both sides. I like the contradiction. The trick with reviews is not to take them personally - which is easier said than done. Trust me, I know. But they aren't about "you" or the "writer" or often even the item being reviewed, they are about the person critiquing the work - what works for them, what bugs them, what turns them on, what doesn't. And in order to know whether or not to watch the film, tv show, or read the book - being reviewed, you first have to determine if you share the reviewers taste. It's more than likely you don't - which means if they love something, you'll hate it, and if they hate it, you'll love it. Or, you may share some of their tastes but not all of them.
Reading bad reviews - often will spark my curiousity and make me want to read a book or watch a tv series - because I'll want to know why someone else hated it. Often, I don't get it. Sometimes that's a bigger motivator than if they loved it. Hyped shows, films and books often turn me off. I didn't read Harry Potter when it first came out - because of the hype.
Other times, it will spark curiousity - such as the Titantic (which disappointed me).
Writing them...is fun as well, although I have no interest in getting paid for it.
2. Film Review of The Illusionist
Finished watching The Illusionist - a French animated film, that was nominated for an Oscar but got beat out by one of the Pixars...shame, because it is a unique piece of film. Sort of bittersweet. There's no dialogue, just a soft lilting soundtrack, like a silent film. And the animation is old style...1920s, or so it appears, while the time period is 1950s.
It's about a magician or illusionist, who does his magic act to dwindling crowds, until he's pushed aside by rock musicians. Hooks up with a young girl that he meets in Scotland, and lives platonically with her for a bit in Edinburough. No longer able to practice magic, because his act is no longer bringing in clients - he takes random jobs...until finally, the girl falls in love, and the illusionist gives up his dream of being a magician and wanders on.
The problem with being an artist...is it's hard to get seen. And often, you can be an active artist - but if you aren't wildly popular...
Many actors that I've met - will tell me they are actors, and I'll ask what have you been in? And they'll tell me. But I often haven't seen the movies or tv shows or theater bits they've done. In some cases the movies don't get widely distributed and go straight to DVD, in other cases - they've done a pilot, various television pilots - but they never aired, or they had bit parts - which you don't notice. Or they are doing commercials. Or that play out in Syracuse, NY. They are actors. Working actors.
Same deal with writing. I write. I am a writer. I've written numerous short stories, novels, meta, blog posts, poetry, business reports, legal memorandums, a couple of articles, etc. And I've been trained as a writer - having taken various writing courses, and workshops. But if I'm not published - or my work isn't handy or readily available - a lot of people may not consider me a writer. But I am. I write for a living. Every day. Then I come home and write some more. On a daily basis I write approximately 10-15 pages, sometimes 100. I'm compelled to write. Writing to me is akin to breathing. I get paid for technical and legal/financial writing. But for joy, I write blog posts, creatively, etc.
In The Illusionist - at the very end, disillusioned, the old man writes a goodbye note to the young girl - it simply states "Magicians Do Not Exist". Yet, on the train ride, he performs a sleight of hand to entertain a small child, who barely takes notice.
I think in our hurly-burly world...we often don't see the magic or the art...too determined to define and categorize...when often life is not definable.
It's a thoughtful, but sad little film. Well worth a look.