Now You See Me

First Hit:  I like magic and therefore I was interested and entertained during this film.

However from a plot point of view it was confusing and didn’t necessarily hold together. In the opening scenes we see four magicians performing their particular types of magic. J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg) doing street magic that is grand in its own right.

Merritt McKinney (Woody Harrelson) does mindreading and hypnosis in small venues to make a living after his bother stole all his money. Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) use to be Atlas’ assistant but does her own dramatic magic in small showrooms. Lastly there is Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) who is mostly a con-artist with deft hands and the ability to be clever.

They are corralled together by an unknown guide and a year later is performing major stage magic in front of thousands of people in Las Vegas. They identify Author Tressler (Michael Caine) as their financial benefactor to the audience.

Also the audience is introduced  to Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) in this “First Act” show as someone who makes a living debunking Magic by sharing magician's tricks on his website. In the first act the 4 Horsemen, as they’re called, are to have someone from the audience come up to the stage and rob a bank in France and give the proceeds to the audience.

This is the films setup because the magicians are brought into the FBI for questioning and here they meet Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) who is heading the US investigation of the robbery while his Interpol counterpart is Alma Dray (Melanie Laurant). As each of the three 4 Horsemen acts unfold, the story gets more convoluted. This is the problem with this film, it just doesn’t provide enough sustenance and bread crumbs to make it work.

Eisenberg is intense as usual and although he’s good for the part, he’s become more of a one trick pony. Harrelson, as he’s done in the last few years, takes each of his characters and makes them interesting and compelling. Fisher is good enough but I would have seen more grit (street smarts) from her to beef up her part. Franco is OK as the most minor of the four characters but reappears at the end as a critical component. Caine is good as the hard, steely eyed, guy who gets taken for a ride. Freeman is strong as the guy who gets his in the end. Ruffalo is OK, however didn’t seem very believable as a FBI investigator. Laurant is OK but I’m not quite sure this character was needed. Ed Solomon and Boaz Yakin wrote the convoluted story with big ideas. Louis Leterrier directed the film, and it seems, with a certain respect for magic.

Overall: I found the film entertaining and that could be that is because I like the illusion of magic.

Beginners

First Hit: A wonderfully insightful film about growing into love.

Oliver (played by Ewan McGregor), after losing his mom, four years earlier, is now picking up the pieces of his life because his dad, Hal, has just died.

He’s had four significant relationships in his life where he insured they would not succeed by sabotaging them. Shortly after his mother Georgia (played by Mary Page Keller) died, his father, Hal (played by Christopher Plummer) announces that he is gay and is going to live a gay life. Hal also learns that he is dying of cancer.

The film effectively flashes back to Oliver’s young years sharing the sadness and disappointment both his mom and he experienced in their family. Georgia knew Hal was gay when she married him and always felt she could change him. Although he never had an affair while married, their marriage was filled with disappointment for Georgia.

Therefore, it was also disappointing for Oliver because besides the sadness in the family as a whole, his father was absent by working long hours as a museum curator. The film flashes also to Hal’s gay life including the younger man he meets and loves. Hal begins to love again the way he felt he should have always loved. One evening Oliver’s friends take him to a costume party where he goes as Sigmund Freud.

There he meets Anna (played by Melanie Laurent), an actress who has laryngitis. She tells him that he has sad eyes. As he begins to develop a relationship with Anna, flashbacks to his childhood and his father’s living his life as a gay man enter his mind (and on the screen). Anna and Oliver fall in love and he asks her to move in with him, and right away his insecurities arise.

The film ends with him finding his way back to allowing love into his life. One of the great aspects of this film is the use of Arthur, Hal’s dog. This dog plays a prominent part in this film because he embodies faithfulness, unconditional love, and joy.

McGregor is very good as a man who wants and is looking for love in his life but is confused about how to allow it in. Plummer is fantastic as Hal; the man who married for faithful love based in friendship but really wanted to live his truth as a gay man in love. Laurent was perfect as the woman who lives a solitary life on the road being an actress, but really longs to have love in her life. She is looking for someone who can see her. Mike Mills both wrote and directed this film and in both areas he did an outstanding job. The dialogue clear, pithy and poignant while the direction was very crisp and always on target.

Overall: This was a thoughtful joyous film.