The Illusionist

Deb 6 Me 9

We saw French movie The Triplets of Bellville whenever it came out and liked it, I don’t remember what I liked but it was fun. The same folks did The Illusionist so I was looking forward to it. While the previews were going on my mind wandered to Jacque Tati, the French funny man from the 50s & 60s. So the film begins and there in the screenplay credits is TATI! I mean the cat has been dead for thirty years and here he is cranking out an animated movie. Cool.

As a painter, I appreciate what goes into animation, classic animation; or what appears to be classic animation. This film has that classic look in spades. Man, it is a good-looking movie. There’s a watercolor/gouache and ink look to it that just jumps out at you. The big washes of color, the tiny inked details, wow, a real looker. Every scene had me staring, marveling at the draftsmanship, color and composition choices, I really liked that part of it.

Then there was the sound. The Foley crew was amazing! Every sound was perfectly rendered and distinct. Whatever it was, rain in the background or a relay theater lighting switch, everything was right on. Music was also right on the mark.

Not until after seeing the movie did I read the synopsis. I would have lost enthusiasm for going to see it based on that information. I saw a different movie than what they described and really enjoyed the version I saw.

In animation you can exaggerate characters, make them caricatures of themselves. Everybody in this movie was well defined and the people in the backgrounds were just as interesting, maybe more interesting than if they used real people as extras.

I was totally absorbed in the movie from beginning to end. But it was all sensory stimulation, the story had some confusing elements. But the story I got from it was a great story, not Hollywood, and I really had a good time with it.

Deb didn’t think as much of it as I did and the couple we were with didn’t remark on the movie at all (in a later conversation declared they liked it). So I’m the exception here, Deb’s 6 is probably a more realistic reflection of the movie going public, mine is biased by the fact that it sucked me in from the first scene and kept me wondering, amazed and amused all the way through.