An enormously-pleasurable melodrama about duelling magicians, told in a manner that while fractured into a complex time (and mindfuck) structure is never less than coherent and compelling. I’m a sucker for the lore and legend surrounding the heyday of magic (and I’d note that Ricky Jay, a real expert on those subjects, turns up too briefly onstage)–it was a cutthroat business, as interesting for the backstage infighting as for the strange ‘exoticism’ and confidence tricks of the shows. The movie captures that feel very well, even though zeroed in on the story of two rivals. Every actor is quite wonderful, particularly David Bowie in a small turn as Nikola Tesla. Much hay is made about the ‘twist,’ but I wasn’t terribly surprised–and the energies of the plot do not hinge entirely or even too much on that surprise. (As with magic, the “Prestige” may be the showy flash at the end, but the pleasures are all in the getting there. Which brings me back to my theories on narrative, but you all know them, so insert here.)
And I’ll forego further conversation so as not to ‘wreck’ anyone’s surprise. But at some future date I’d love to talk about this. And how the best films of this year have been/are crowd-pleasers–from Lee’s Inside Man to Scorsese’s Departed. Screw the serious?