BEFORE: Ooh, getting close to movie #800, which I should hit on Friday. What will it be, I wonder? I assure you, there is a method to my madness, or perhaps it's the other way around. John Malkovich carries over from last night's film - his birthday is in December, when I'll be on break, so I'm watching his films now. Here he plays a mentalist, which is kind of like a con man, right?
THE PLOT: A young man, much to the chagrin of his father, becomes the new assistant to an illusionist in decline.
AFTER: Well, I really identified with this one. I work for an animator of some notability, and for two weeks out of each year (San Diego + New York Comic-Cons), I do function as his road manager. He's not as tempermental as Buck, but the job comes with similar difficulties - if something goes wrong, I could easily be held responsible.
This story is obviously (and admittedly) based on the work of The Amazing Kreskin - famous for his "effects" (not tricks) and supposed mental powers, which are probably a combination of sleight-of-hand, the power of observation, and plain old common sense. (The director of this film used to be Kreskin's road manager.)
To its credit, the movie never reveals how Buck Howard (or Kreskin) performs his tricks - but it does eliminate earpieces and audience plants, so it does help narrow the field of possibilities. There's a strong suggestion about how Howard does his most famous trick, but you have to pay careful attention to see it.
But mainly, this is a story about Howard's road manager, a young man who's not sure what to do with his life after dropping out of law school, and he figures that working for a mentalist will at least give him important experience, if not a solid career. I thought along those same lines 17 years ago - and I'm still at the same job, so for me it did become what I was meant to be doing.
I've always said that every creative person - filmmakers, rock stars, actors, etc. - needs someone working for them, doing the day-to-day stuff. Booking flights, collecting checks, filling out paperwork, so that the creative person has more time to be creative. I stand by that, and I've built my career on it. But the true employer-employee relationship is symbiotic, as seen here - there must be things that the employee can do that the employer can't do, or doesn't understand. Only then does job security exist.
Same problem as last night's film, though - I'm not seeing how all the events of the film add up to some greater point.
Also starring Colin Hanks (last seen in "The House Bunny"), Emily Blunt (last seen in "Dan in Real Life"), Ricky Jay (last seen in "The Prestige"), Steve Zahn (last seen in "Rescue Dawn"), with cameos from Tom Hanks (last seen in "Road to Perdition"), Griffin Dunne (last seen in "An American Werewolf in London"), Adam Scott (last seen in "Step Brothers"), Wallace Langham, Gary Coleman, Conan O'Brien, Jon Stewart, Tom Arnold, Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa, Martha Stewart and George Takei.
RATING: 5 out of 10 autographed photos
No comments:
Post a Comment