More than meets the eye

Caught THE ILLUSIONIST almost two weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised. Aside from the fact that the awesome Paul Giamatti has a rather nice turn as Inspector Uhl (does he ever fail to impress? The man's eyebrows even give a good performance), Edward Norton and Rufus Sewell are very entertaining.

The whole film is very sepia-toned and dark - very fitting for turn-of-the-century Vienna - and I was, as always, highly drawn to the production design. I am a huge fan of art nouveau, and there were some lovely pieces in the film - down to the chair the Illusionist (Norton) uses on stage. Very well done.

Considering the rather romantic plot that could get out of hand, there's some mystery, some son versus father torment, morality versus fame struggle, and interesting facial hair (note: Giamatti's and Norton's rival beards and Sewell's, as Prince Leopold, very very distinguished mustache).