 Spreading out to several hundred theaters this weekend is The Illusionist, which has been attracting some of the best reviews of the year during its "platform" release. A sample: Gene Seymour in Newsday: "There's something mildly intimidating about the craftsmanship put into The Illusionist. Each groove in the story is so finely curved, each scene so immaculately rendered and polished within an inch of its life that you almost forget that magic is consequential to the storytelling. But the high gloss doesn't intrude on the narrative cunning -- or, for that matter, the foxy grandeur of the performances." Lou Lumenick in the New York Post: "This is the kind of thoughtful, poetic, lush and old-fashioned (in the best sense of the word) film that rarely gets made anymore -- one that immerses us in a bygone world for a couple of hours." But Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post is among those who do not buy it. She writes: "Rather than taking viewers on a twisty, provocative journey through a mazelike meditation on appearance and reality, The Illusionist finally just sits there, looking like a very well-produced pilot for PBS's Mystery! series. It's a sophisticated snooze." |
