| RATING: | 100% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
[Illusionist]
Cleverly-assembled homage both to Jacques Tati, in particular, and daughters, in general. The father here adopts many of the physical mannerisms of Tati while the young girl is animated in a far more fluid and graceful manner than any of the other characters. This is an oblique look at life that veers between realism and poetry as if to prove Forster's dictum: Only Connect!
The aching nostalgia of a past about to end, the decline of the music hall in Britain circa 1959, is carefully-balanced with the acceptance of this fact in order to successfully-avoid sentimentality. When the girl realizes that the eponymous illusionist is not capable of real magic she soon grows up into a pubescent young woman; engaging in a romance with a Sean Connery lookalike on the street of Edinburgh. Simultaneously, the father-figure realizes that he is no longer the most important male in her life: Both grow and mature.
There is nothing to dislike here and the movie wrings a genuine, unforced tear from the eye with simple effects and appropriately-slow pacing. Like Toy Story 3, this film concerns itself with true human relationships, not simply interactions – with pointed and deft characterization.
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