L'Illusionniste (Sylvain Chomet, 2010)

What's it about? A down-on-his-luck French magician travels to Scotland to perform a show. There, he meets Alice who is convinced he really has magical abilities and they travel to Edinburgh together.

Is it any good? It's not as delightfully offbeat as Chomet's The Triplets of Belleville, but this is still a lovely, gentle comedy and a poignant lament for times when people had simpler entertainment tastes. This may not be surprising given it was based on a 50 year-old script by famous French mime and actor Jacques Tati, who himself provides the basis for the main character. If you're normally put off by foreign films, don't worry; there's hardly any dialogue here- this is all about visual storytelling. 

I don't trust you. What do others think? Everyone raves (rightly) about the beautiful, distinctive animation (get a flavour of it with the trailer below), but some were disappointed that it was a bit insubstantial and felt the ending rather abrupt. These people also hate Christmas.


Anything else I should know? Don't mix it up with the Edward Norton film The Illusionist - it's not very good.

What does the Fonz think? Tres bien, laddie.






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