The Illusionist
Sylvain Chomet
2010
Reasonable people can disagree about whether The Illusionist or Toy Story 3 deserves to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars. I choose The Illusionist.
The reason is pretty simple: It touched me emotionally far more than Toy Story did. There’s such quiet beauty and wonder here, mixed with very real sadness and loneliness.
The moment at the very, very end of the film (the very last picture we see, other than the one after the credits), when we realize why Tatischeff has been so kind to the girl, is heartbreaking.
Magicians do not exist.
The ticket vendor at the theater told us, “Now, you’re aware this movie has subtitles, right?” We were. We were also wrong. There are no subtitles, because there’s hardly any speaking. What speaking there is is basically unintelligible (except for the French), but it doesn’t matter anyway, because the movie tells its story with the pictures. And such beautiful pictures.
And such an angry rabbit.
If you know what this movie is, you know it’s based on a screenplay that was never produced by Jacques Tati, the masterful French filmmaker. And the protagonist, Tatischeff, looks and moves just like Tati. It’s impressive that they could capture him so well.
I think this movie is made for a different kind of sensibility than Toy Story 3 (not that you can’t enjoy both). It’s quiet. It’s sad in a deeper way, a way that knows the reality of what it’s looking at. Here, the puppet isn’t given to a little girl who will love it and play with it– here, the puppet sits alone in a store window, pawned by the man who couldn’t afford to keep it and now must talk to his own bare hand.
Fletch
Jeremy
Zack!
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