The Illusionist

We saw that movie The Illusionist last night. I was just going to see it almost out of obligation. The magic community has been talking about this movie for over a year now. I didn't really know what to expect. In fact, it's not playing in many of our theaters here. We had to drive across town to watch it. However, it was the best movie of the year in my opinion! It was so intriguing. The storyline was incredible. The ending was the best!

Edward Norton, who is one of my favorite actors, learned all of the slight of hand magic tricks. He didn't use a stunt double. What he did may not have looked very difficult, but it was. He rolled an orange and a ball between his fingers like he had been doing it for years. He must have practiced that so much.

Throughout the movie, they showed portions of the magician's show. The story took place back before electricity, so the show was so different from any modern show. There was no music played. For lighting, there were massive candles lining the front of the stage. During the show, everything was very quiet because they had no microphones or sound systems. Everyone had to listen really closely to the magician and they did. The movie enabled us to go to a magic show from years ago!