The Illusionist Edward Norton

Directed by Neil Burger
Czech Republic / USA 2006

Based on Steven Millhauser’s short story, “Eisenheim the Illusionist,” Neil Burger's 2006 film, The Illusionist, is appropriately set in the turn-of-the-century Austro-Hungarian Empire with Van Dyke-bearded Edward Norton's penetrating stare and a haunting Philip Glass score as keen parts of its mysterious and illuring aura. The plot revolves around some potential political volatility with a young and masterful magician figuring in as an integral cog in the country's future. His, once, puppy-love with royal Sophie (Jessica Biel) surfaces as a less developed and uninteresting element in the intriguing and intentionally paced plot.

Bottom line is this is a very entertaining, if also obviously audience-catering project. Norton, established as one of the most charismatic actors of his generation defines the role exceptionally well with adept Paul Giamatti playing go-between Chief Inspector Uhl and one-dimensional Biel as pleasurable eye-candy support. Burger does an admirable job and his atmospheric development, detailed art production and 'magic' performance base has lead The Illusionist to have a strong following with well deserved support. It may not be a masterpiece but it is one of the better films I saw from 2006. It has a keen focal subtext of perception, power and pride.

Gary W. Tooze

Posters

Theatrical Release: April 27th 2006 - Newport Beach International Film Festival

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DVD Review: 20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	20th Century Fox Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	1:48:48
Video	1.78:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 8.13 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Subtitles	English, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by writer/directed Neil Burger • "Making of The Illusionist" featurette • Jessica Biel on The Illusionist" featurette • Theatrical Trailer DVD Release Date: January 9th, 2007 Keep Case Chapters: 28

Comments:

The image is a good one - as one might expect from a digitally transferred Fox film released in 2006. The CGI and lighting 'tricks' aren't overly obvious on the DVD image. Blacks are deep and detail is strong. It is both anamorphic and progressive with decent optional subtitles in either English or Spanish. The largely untested 5.1 track is solid.

There is a commentary by director Burger included and it is good and worth listening to, if not intensely riveting. He relates a lot of the pre-production details of the story and working with the three leads - all positive stuff with some good background on the illusions themselves. He shows that he was keenly aware of many extraneous details of the project. There are two featurettes - a Making of - only 4 minutes long and another with Jessica Biel giving a few lines about her role (only 2 minutes). There is also a theatrical trailer - plus ones for 3 other films. Highly recommended - Fox's reasonable price gives this very good value and an enjoyable evening for the family.