The Illusionist (2006, USA)

I came away from The Illusionist feeling pretty much the same way about the film as I do about its female lead – pretty to look at, but there doesn’t seem to be much going on under the surface. On the latter part, it’s not for lack of trying – the filmmakers attempted to imbue their movie with a political subtext that never quite gelled, and with a ghost story that goes nowhere at all. Complicating these issues is the fact that the movie’s “twist” is entirely transparent, so much so that the second half of the film feels more like a waiting game than an investigation of turn-of-the-century European politics and social mores. However, The Illusionist does give Paul Giamatti something fun to do with his facial hair, and it’s good to see Rufus Sewell not slumming it for a change. Norton is less out-of-place in a costume drama than I’d expected him to be, though, on the same note (and as I hinted above), I think it’s no mistake that Jessica Biel’s character essentially disappears from the movie about halfway through.