Sunday, September 03, 2006
The Illusionist
I won't spoil this movie for you. The plot is not all that great so it is not even worth spoiling.
But what makes this movie worth your $10.75, or if you are lucky enough to live elsewhere like 9 bucks, is Ed Norton. It is not that he is good looking, I mean he is, but it is that he is fucking mesmerizing. Every moment he was on screen I could not take my eyes off him. The last time i felt this way about a performance... may very well have been Ed Norton in American History X. (Paul Giammati was actually very very good as well. I think this movie might just be the perfect example of how acting skills can save a film from all its other major flaws).
Then there is the business with the accents. When I was 17 and had just seen Ever After I made the following observation. "I don't get it, they are supposed to be French, they would not be speaking French in British accents, they would not have accents at all so if anything the actors should just speak normally" paraphrasing 17 year old me. approx August 1998. Anyway, I guess this movie had a little more pretenstion, and their accents were just "vaugely foreign" and mostly they were just enunciating very very well. (Jessica Biel's accent was awful but picking on Biel when she was in the company of two of the best actors around just seems unfair). But what I found interesting last night was not the fact that they were speaking in a wierd accent, I am very used to that, but the fact that if they had not been speaking in this funny accent, I would have been very confused. If a European period piece did not have all its actors speak in these vaugely foreign or outright British accents, I would not know what to make of the movie. Sure, the costumes and plot seem to imply 18th century Vienna, but the accents make me think the movie is taking place in the midwest. And as I pointed out at age 17, this is completely illogical, the characters are not speaking English, and they are not speaking whatever language they are supposed to speaking with accents. But years of going to movies have trained me. My fictional european characters from 100 or more years ago must speak a certain way and nothing can be done about it.
But what makes this movie worth your $10.75, or if you are lucky enough to live elsewhere like 9 bucks, is Ed Norton. It is not that he is good looking, I mean he is, but it is that he is fucking mesmerizing. Every moment he was on screen I could not take my eyes off him. The last time i felt this way about a performance... may very well have been Ed Norton in American History X. (Paul Giammati was actually very very good as well. I think this movie might just be the perfect example of how acting skills can save a film from all its other major flaws).
Then there is the business with the accents. When I was 17 and had just seen Ever After I made the following observation. "I don't get it, they are supposed to be French, they would not be speaking French in British accents, they would not have accents at all so if anything the actors should just speak normally" paraphrasing 17 year old me. approx August 1998. Anyway, I guess this movie had a little more pretenstion, and their accents were just "vaugely foreign" and mostly they were just enunciating very very well. (Jessica Biel's accent was awful but picking on Biel when she was in the company of two of the best actors around just seems unfair). But what I found interesting last night was not the fact that they were speaking in a wierd accent, I am very used to that, but the fact that if they had not been speaking in this funny accent, I would have been very confused. If a European period piece did not have all its actors speak in these vaugely foreign or outright British accents, I would not know what to make of the movie. Sure, the costumes and plot seem to imply 18th century Vienna, but the accents make me think the movie is taking place in the midwest. And as I pointed out at age 17, this is completely illogical, the characters are not speaking English, and they are not speaking whatever language they are supposed to speaking with accents. But years of going to movies have trained me. My fictional european characters from 100 or more years ago must speak a certain way and nothing can be done about it.
# posted by Julia @ 12:49 PM 
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I actually liked the vague eastern european accent (much derided though its been my reviewers). i hate that we always use a british accent if an american film is taken plaee somewhere "foriegn". so vaguely eastern europen was a nice change of pace and much more appropriate feeling, if only becuase it breaks up the british monotony.
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: 9:17 AM
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