The Illusionist

Review by Anthony Morris

Finally making its way into cinemas (it screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 2010) just in time for most of the viewing audience to be off seeing what MIFF 2011 has to offer, The Illusionist is one of those films that you really should drop everything to see.

Based on an unproduced script by French comedy master (not a contradiction in terms this time) Jacques Tati and directed by Triplets of Belleville director Sylvain Chomet, it’s one of the most visually gorgeous animated films to come along in recent years.

This is thanks in large part to Chomet’s hand-drawn, CGI-free style.

It’s the story of Tatischeff, a stage magician in the 1950s who finds the market for his act shrinking in the face of more with-it entertainment, forcing him to take increasingly down-market work in increasingly smaller and more obscure venues.

While touring Scotland he meets Alice, a young girl convinced that his act and the illusions he creates are real.

Despite not speaking the same language – the film is basically a silent one, with what little dialogue there is mumbled of muffled - the pair bond as she runs away from home to join him as he travels to Edinburgh.

Sedately paced, this does an amazing job of capturing the past (and Tati himself – Tatischeff is, as his name suggests, based on Tati himself) and slowly bringing forth a story that turns out to have some real power behind it (bring tissues).

If you’re even remotely interested in animation – and these days who isn’t – this is something not to be missed.

4.5  out of 5

The Illusionist
Australian release: Limited Release
Official Site: The Illusionist
Cast: Jean-Claude Donda, Eilidh Rankin and Duncan MacNeil
Director: Sylvain Chomet