The Illusionist

We met our friends Joan and Deb at the Bay Street Mall to see The Illusionist. There was another film of the same name made a few years back, but it has nothing in common with this one except for the title. This one is animated, based on an unfinished screen play by the French film-maker Jacques Tati.

The looks and mannerisms of the main character are based on Tati himself. It's about the relationship between a traveling illusionist and a young girl, a waif who adopts him as her father figure. It's also about the passing of vaudeville acts, replaced by television and rock n'roll. It's a sad sentimental film, more Chaplin than Tati in mood. The older generation of magicians, chorus girls, acrobats, clowns and ventriloquists become anachronistic. They end up out of work and homeless.

Naturally, we identified with their plight: Deb, the part-time teacher whose position is being attacked by union busters, Joan the librarian, whose hours have been reduced because of budget cuts, Bob laid off from his job at the bank so now 'retired', and myself, a commercially unsuccessful artist and impractical dreamer.

The real irony was that we were almost the only people in the theater, watching scenes on screen where the illusionist plays to an almost empty house. It was a quiet film with beautifully animated scenes of Scotland, especially Edinburgh. Those scenes were well worth the price of admission though the story was too sentimental and the film dragged on too long.

The second irony was that we watched it at a multiplex. The loud explosive sounds of other movies made it hard to hear the film's soundtrack, combined with the ping-ping of the video arcade next door. I finally complained to the manager. Instead of a refund, he gave us free tickets for another movie. It may be a while before I make it back.