Opening Night and Gone But Not Forgotten

The Illusionist
United States, 2006 (110 minutes)

SIFF 2006, Opening Night
Thursday May 25, 7:00pm The Paramount Theater

Once upon a time a peasant boy and a princess fell in love. The boy was driven away, only to return an accomplished magician, intent on winning back the princess from the evil prince. Neil Burger’s The Illusionist is as complex as a child’s bedtime story but without an ounce of surprise or originality. Eisenheim (Edward Norton) is appropriately austere, mysterious and the effects used to create his stage fabrications are technically beautiful, but the story reads like a facsimile of been there, done that. Sophie (Jessica Biel) is ravishing and dewy-eyed but has little to do. Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell) plays a cartoonish villain and Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti) is downright annoying. The concept and design are wonderful but bad Austrian accents, a disappointingly abrupt resolution and a tacked on montage revealing the true story further the disappointment in what might have been a much better film.

Later ...

Earlier this week while killing time between press screenings I found myself in a conversation with two old timers discussing the long gone movie houses of downtown Seattle. In my travels after today’s show, I happened to pass by something that gave me a big case of the warm fuzzies. If I’d heard about these beauties I must have forgotten, but there they were and I was beside myself. If any of you kids can tell me what these are I’ll come to your house and show you a real movie!

A hint: Spanish Baroque, about five blocks removed, and yes, that’s the Paramount Theater in the background.