Review: The Illusionist

The Illusionist
Dir. Sylvain Chomet
Year: 2010
Aus Rating: PG
Running Time: 80mins

An 80-minute, hand-drawn animated French film without dialogue and with one of the most depressing finale acts ever committed to celluloid: this is The Illusionist. It’s also some sort of divine masterpiece. French animator Sylvain Chomet has adapted an unproduced Jacques Tati (the iconic late French comedian behind Mon Oncle and Playtime) screenplay from 1956 into this vividly realised, boutique piece of old-fashioned nostalgia. First seen at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival, this timeless film is finally receiving a local release and it is one of the finest works seen on our screens this year.

Read the rest at Trespass Mag

Jacki Weaver, Academy Award Nominee.

I think I predicted this back in March.


While I didn't do all that well with my Oscar predictions, I did foresee a couple of the notable things. How about Javier Bardem and I was so happy to see The Illusionist get the leg-up over Tangled and *shudder at the the thought* Despicable Me. Although I wish I'd kept Another Year in my original screenplay predictions instead of swapping it out for Blue Valentine. Meanwhile, in the Best Director category I correctly predicting a big omission, I just went in the wrong direction.

I thought Darren Aronofsky would miss out ala Baz Luhrmann in 2002 when everyone thought there was no way the branch could look at it and not recognise the direction. It was not Aronofsky though, but Christopher Nolan. I must say, I let out a laugh when his name was not read because, as a cinephile I was very distinctly in the minority in thinking that The Reader was the best film nominated in 2009 - give or take a Milk. Hearing all of Nolan's "fanboys" all but shit over that film and it's director Stephen Daldry for "stealing" Nolan's nomination. I am anticipating who these people will claim "stole" Nolan's nomination.

I find it incredibly insulting to throw around this "Inception directed itself?" line because, well, the five nominees all did fine work and earned their nominations. And then there's the issue of the four other directors who didn't get nomination alongside their movies in the Best Picture category. I feel a bit bad for the likes of Debra Granik and Lisa Cholodenko who have to listen to these people yammer on about Nolan being "snubbed" and yet there they are, also having directed Best Picture nominees and... well, I just think it's really poor form. Nevertheless, next year Christopher Nolan has a film in contention will we be seeing 10 nominees for Best Director? Hmmm...

One last word: Burlesque?

Okay, more than one last word. I can live with Burlesque not being nominated, but not nominated against *that* line-up? Or, more specifically, *that* song from 127 Hours? It's fitting that it's played during a shot that just hangs in the sky because it's the musical equivalent of air. It barely exists! I'm not even sure how it qualifies as a song to be perfectly honest with you. Add in the two animated tunes and it's one of the dullest lineups in that category's history. And that's from someone who tends to defend that category more than others. What a load of rubbish!

2010, The Year of the Music Score?

Many in the movie-watching game have claimed 2010 was the "year of the woman" (don't tell Meir Zarchi, he may get the wrong idea!) or the "year of animation" or the "year of the auteur", but I'd like to put forth my own suggestion:

2010 is the year of the music score!
Usually when I glance over my "best of the year" ballot the Best Original Score category has a couple of nominees that I couldn't live without, but rarely is it overflowing with contenders like it is this year. While in almost any other year having to boot out the scores for The Tree (Grégoire Hetzel), Mother (Byeong-woo Lee), Red Hill (Dimitri Golovko) and - most shamefully - The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose) would have been nigh on unthinkable, this has been like no other year I can recall in recent memory.


"Dance" | "Abyss" by Byung-woo Lee (Mother)
Reznor and Rose especially feel like a crime to omit from my roster of five best original scores of the year when in most other years I would be handing them my Gold Model, but I gave them the flick because, as spectacular as their music is, it's the one that seems to least bring me back to the movie itself. If that makes sense. It's fantastic to listen to (and I've included two of my favourite tracks below) but when I listen to it I don't go "Oh man, I need to watch The Social Network again!"


"Hand Covers Bruise" | "Magnetic" from The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Rose)
Bear in mind I have not seen Black Swan, True Grit or The Ghost Writer yet so this upcoming top 5 (in alphabetical order) could change once again when I do, but these next five scores are one of the things that has made 2010 so good for me. I covet them and want to wrap them around me like a warm blanket.

I was as surprised as anybody to discover How to Train Your Dragon was, ya know, not shit! My history with DreamWorks Animation is hardly positive, but Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders and the rest of the team behind it really pulled it off with aplomb. Let's just be thankful there weren't any pop culture jokes, okay! Best in show for me was John Powell, whose score felt suitable grand and mythic. Chock full to the brim with powerful brass, delightful wind instruments, bombastic drums and big strings, it's been one of my most replayed film scores of the year. That recurring "Test Drive" (below left) theme (and the marching band version in "Coming Back Around", below right) won my heart forever and a day.


"Test Drive" | "Coming Back Around" by John Powell (How to Train Your Dragon)
About 15 minutes into Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist at MIFF earlier this year I thought to myself "this is the best music score of the year!" And now that I've been able to hear most of the much-praised/buzzed music from other movies I reckon I can still say that Chomet's own music for his stunning animation is indeed the best film music of the year. What I was saying about The Social Network's music not transporting me back to the film itself? I can't say that about this music (or any of the other four in my top five, which is why they're in the top five and not Reznor/Rose). So bittersweet and whimsical without being twee. Even if you haven't seen the film the below piece of music will probably break your heart.


"Illusionist Finale" by Sylvain Chomet (The Illusionist)
Everyone seems to think that Hans Zimmer's score for Inception is all about those giant, thunderous explosions of horn instruments (that may or may not actually be "Non, je ne regrette rien" being played a glacial pace), but there is so much more going on. I love the fast-paced raver electro of "Mombassa", the ever-building tension of "Time" and "Dream is Collapsing", which is a fabulous piece of thriller music that, yes, climaxes with those thunderous horns. It is such a change of pace for a big budget action movie to feature a score that isn't either identical to everything else and/or a cheap imitation of Star Wars/Batman/etc.


"Mombassa" | "Dream is Collapsing" by Hans Zimmer (Inception
My absolute favourite film of the year - nothing can take that title away, nothing - is Monsters. The first time I saw it I didn't notice the music so much, I was far more taken by the visuals, but when I saw it for a second time I loved the way Jon Hopkins' jangly strings, whirling synthesizers, delicate piano and throbbing bass add to the sense of unease. The way it allows otherwise routine sequences to hang precariously close to the edge and adds a layer or drama that may not have otherwise been there. That Hopkins has worked with Brian Eno and Massive Attack is not a surprise to learn.


"Campfire" | "Encounter" from Monsters (Jon Hopkins)
Of course, everybody was talking about Daft Punk's score for TRON: Legacy from the very day the film was announced and, having just seen it last night (I didn't listen to the music beforehand, I wanted it to be experienced in the way it was designed to on first inspection), I can say that it didn't disappoint (me). Fans of the French muso's music will immediately leap towards "Derezzed", "TRON Legacy (End Credits)" and "The Son of Flynn", but I also love the Blade Runner styles of "Armory", the almost John Carpenter like pulse of "Arena", the strings of "Adagio for TRON", the panpipes of "Outlands" and the futuristic war epic grandoise music of "Disc Wars" help give the score a real claim on legitimacy. But those pulsating synths of "End of Line" (with 8-Bit sound effects to boot), "The Game Has Changed" and "Nocturne" will make you want to rush out, purchase the soundtrack, start playing and turn the volume up the glass-shattering levels.


"The Game Has Changed" | "End of Line" by Daft Punk (TRON: Legacy)
Of course, if I was able to choose by absolute favourite score of the year it would have to be I Am Love. While it's not an original score, but instead a collection of famous John Adams pieces that have been collated and assembled by director Luca Guadagnino for his Italian film, there was still no more harmonious collaborations between visuals and sounds than I Am Love. I could listen to this soundtrack all day long, even the big, bombastic, melodramatic pieces that turned some people off. I found it delicious and one morsel of music from the soundtrack is never enough.


"Lollapalooza" | "Harmonielehre: Part III - Meister Eckhardt and Quackie" by John Adams (I Am Love)
All hail 2010, the year of the music score!

MIFF 2010 Round-Up

As I type this the final sessions of MIFF 2010 are about to be unveiled, including the Australian premiere of Scott Pilgrim Vs the World, which I am seeing tomorrow. I could have waiting until then and included it in here, but that would mean I'd have to wait and I really couldn't be bothered!

MIFF is exhausting enough doing 23 films, so I can't imagine how some of my fellow Melburnian film fanatics - Lee Zachariah, Thomas Caldwell and Richard Watts included - who see upwards of 70 feel. I plan to write more reviews of some of the other films I have seen at the fest, although some of them might come around when they receive a theatrical release (Red Hill for instance). One film you won't see me review is Clara Law's Like a Dream because it was my sole walk out of the festival. It wasn't exactly good in any way, but I was just so tired and when you're not enjoying a movie sometimes you just have to just throw in the towel.

I have ranked all 22 films and I'm glad that I was able to see so many good movies. Only at around #17 do the films truly start getting a bit iffy. And, of course, titles like Certified Copy could very easily rise even higher as the process of time works its magic.

Note that some of the "Review" links below send you to Trespass Mag where I did a few MIFF pieces. Enjoy.

1. Dreamland (dir. Ivan Sen - Review)
2. Brotherhood (dir. Nicolo Donato - Review)
3. The Illusionist (dir. Sylvain Chomet)
4. I Love You Phillip Morris (dir. Glenn Ficcara & John Requa - Review)
5. Four Lions (dir. Chris Morris)
6. Life During Wartime (dir. Todd Solondz - Review)
7. Certified Copy (dir. Abbas Kiarostami)
8. City of Life and Death (dir. Chuan Lu)
9. Jean-Michael Basquiat: The Radiant Child (dir. Tamra Davis)
10. Red Hill (dir. Patrick Hughes - Review)
11. Women Without Men (dir. Shirin Neshat)
12. The Actresses (dir. Je-Yong Lee)
13. Beeswax (dir. Andrew Bujalski)
14. Machete Maidens Unleashed! (dir. Mark Hartley - Review)
15. Cane Toads: The Conquest (dir. Mark Lewis)
16. The Myth of the American Sleepover (dir. David Robert Mitchell - Review)
17. Blank City (dir. Celine Danhier)
18. Winter's Bone (dir. Debra Granik - Review)
19. Piggies (dir. Robert Glinksi)
20. 1981 (dir. Ricardo Trogi - Review)
21. She, A Chinese (dir. Xiaolu Guo)
22. The Silent House (dir. Gustavo Hernández - Review)

Those final two are the only ones that I would consider truly terrible cinema, so all in all it was a very successful festival!


The Men:
Two performances stand out from the pack: Ewan McGregor in I Love You Phillip Morris and David Denkic from Brotherhood. McGregor hasn't been this alive on screen in years and is his best performance in over a decade (I'd have to go back to before Moulin Rouge!, even, to find a better performance from him). He's so knowing about his surroundings and balances the fine mix of flamboyance and sweetness. Denkic on the other hand is all bubbling rage, sexual longing and sadness and during Brotherhood's best scenes he is the focal point.

Other male performances that registered were Steve Bisley in Red Hill, Ciarán Hinds in Life During Wartime, John Hawkes in Winter's Bone and while William Shimell is obviously playing second fiddle to Juliette Binoche in Certified Copy he has some fine, delicate work there, too. Lastly a big - BIG - shoutout to the terrible ensemble of Four Lions, my favourite of which was probably Kayvan Novak (he's sexy too!).


The Women:
You don't win Best Actress at Cannes for just being pretty, so it's no surprise that Juliette Binoche shone brightly in Certified Copy. So many expressions go by on that woman's face over the running time of Kiarostami's movie, you'd think she was going to pull a muscle! Jennifer Lawrence was low-key in Winter's Bone, but still fine, however I much preferred her support in the form of Dale Dickey. Allison Janney and Ally Sheedy, the latter in a bizarre but hilarious cameo, were tops in Life During Wartime and, yet another ensemble, the women of The Actresses were all fantastic but my favourite was definitely Yoon Yeo-Jung.


Experiences:
There were individual moments that I will remember for a very long time. How about the meditative and 2001-inspired ending of Dreamland or the beautiful, stunning end to Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist. I won't ruin it for anybody out there, but the card on the table? It will tear your heart open! Juliette Binoche putting her earrings on in Certified Copy, the discovery of so many long-forgetting films in Machete Maidens Unleashed! (CLEOPATRA WONG is at the very top of my must-see list), the anger I felt at the end of The Silent House, the lush 3D of Cane Toads: The Conquest or that stunning confrontation scene between Ciaran Hinds and Chris Marquette in Life During Wartime. All amazing, all unforgettable.


Sound:
I'm not sure what it was with MIFF this year, but I could fill out the Academy's Best Sound Design/Editing categories just from the movies I saw at this festival alone! The soundscapes of Dreamworld were second-to-none, the shot-blasts of Red Hill were teeth-shattering, the gunfire of City of Life and Death rattled... even the way Binoche's feet clapped against the Tuscan stone paths in Certified Copy felt blissful to me.

Music, too, played a major role in several of the films. Come February 2010 I really hope to see Sylvain Chomet's name listed as a nominee for the Oscar for Best Original Score. His music to The Illusionist was divine. Probably the best score I've heard since Alexandre Desplat's work on Birth. And if you know me that is high praise, indeed.

~-~
And so that about wraps it up. You'll no doubt be hearing about several of these titles throughout the rest of the year and next and I've had a ball. It will be good to be able to back to having a diet free of shoving KFC down by gob and being able to just relax at home in the evening instead of having to rush about hoping to get a good spot in line. And, just quietly, I will be able to get back to such things as Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene, which I'm sure you're excited about (as am I!)

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