The Illusionist & The Prestige

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Mystery & Suspense

These two movies were released within a month from each other. They are basically telling two different stories yet around the same theme: a world of tricks and intrigues of love and power of being a magician.

The Illusionist, played by Edward Norton, tells a story about a famous magician confronted by a difficult challenge of winning an aristocrat girl, whom he loved from the past, from an ambitious Crown Prince who was engaged to her. The magician was forced to stage a very daring plan to save her from the ruthless Prince. A witty police inspector who was close to the Prince but sympathetic to the magician investigated the whole situation and adds to the suspense of this movie.

The Prestige, played by Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman, tells a story about a friendship that becomes a rivalry between between two magicians, who are willing to do everything to compete and win the heart of their audience. The title of this movie is based on the last act of a magic trick, "the prestige", in which after showing something ordinary ("the pledge") and turning it into something extraordinary ("the turn"), the magician shocks the audience with a twist and make them not believe in what they see.

I feel The Illusionist has more suspense compared to The Prestige, although the audience most probably could easily guess the end of its story, but not so with The Prestige. I also feel The Prestige's scenes sequence, in which the past and the present are shown in reference to the reading of a diary, might cause some audience to do some thinking to piece story bits together. The end part was elegantly composed. I found out that its director is the same one who directed "Memento". No wonder. :-)

Quotes:

"Now you're looking for the secret... but you won't find it because you're not really looking.
You don't really want to know the secret. You want to be fooled."

"The audience knows the truth: the world is simple. It's miserable, solid all the way through.
But if you could fool them, even for a second, then you can make them wonder,
and then you got to see something really special...it was the look on their faces."