The Magician

The Magician is not as bad as some boring reviewer said it is. I didn't feel a lull at any point in the film and thought there were undercurrents of depth to do with Melbourne drug culture and dealing. The mundanity of it. The darkness. And a lead who is surprising in many ways. "A fascinating and attractive man" as Max says! Of course, you really do need to be familiar with Melbourne to get the street scenes. And Australian to understand conversations about Big M's and Wayne Carey. And is there anything wrong about making films for ourselves? And is there anything wrong with a filmmaker just getting out there and making something with no money, to get some experience, all for the love of it? NO! I hope this gives Scott Ryan a good go in the industry.

I recently saw the world premier of this film at the Sydney Film Festival and I admit I wasn't expecting much. It was dubbed as some kind of Chopper-like film with no budget, no known cast and shot on the streets. I was surprised to find it quite entertaining and a real relief from the mostly poor uninspired films currently being made within the Australian Film Finance system. 'The Magician' has a real edge and it has one element lacking in most of the cinema produced in Australia, a strong, genuinely funny lead in writer/director Scott Ryan. Shot in digital video this is a mocumentary on Ray Shoestring, a Melbournian hit-man, a man that makes people disappear. We following him on his exploits see the reality of this profession. Full of improvised dialog and shot in a raw, realist style, you get an insight into the mind of a flawed killer. The character takes his time on camera, you see him thinking and he becomes disturbingly real. The funniest film I've seen come out of my native country in years. Its interesting to note, according to Scott, it was filmed in ten days on a self raised AU$3000. It is a testimate to the passion of the Australian filmmaker making what he can without the need for 'developement' money and 5 - 8 years of 'writing'. It's the most inpiring self funded work I've seen since Robert Rodriguez filmed 'El Mariachi' for $US6000 in 1991.

One of the things that makes Mr. Inbetween a great show, is that Ray.offers his philosophical view between the good and the evil all the way through the 3 seasons, to the point that you seem to feel bad for him about how everything went, and you could even agree to some extent to his way of living which happens to a whole ethical dilemma to be digested.

Then at some point in the series, they do a little cameo mentioning this film and one could be intrigued to see if this is actually a prequel and if it actually set a precedent for the philosophical vision of the show.

But in this film I can't really see that philosophical Ray. He is obviously almost 15 years younger, with a way less developed sense of life, and although he pretends to set some little ideas, it's by no means anything near as deep as the TV show offers, they are way more superficial. You can even get the first two chapters from the show, which happen to be the same length as this tape, and still get more juice.

Here Ray feels more like a regular hired gun, while Mr. Inbetween, is a hitman 2.0 with all that philosophical background that makes you think about it, which is great.

I can only give credits to this film, to the fact, that it was the seed for making the show, probably because Scott got the same idea back in the day, but did not have the cinematographic tools yet to make it happen and ended with the best he could.

So I'm glad everything was done the way it was.

This is a low or even no-budget film, and does suffer from some non-professional elements. However, for what it is, it's a really engrossing film that is both original and captivating. All of the actors are quite good, none seem to be acting and all possessing a natural presence necessary for the mockumentary to work. Some scenes are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny; others, should have been cut except then the 86 minutes running time would even be less. A movie about a hit-man needs to have more violence, and the Magician suffers from being too talky. Scott Ryan though really deserves credit, seemingly channeling Robert Carlysle as Begby. I think this is something like Clerks or Evil Dead that upon first viewing isn't overwhelmingly impressive but could gain cult status and gain a loyal fan base.

I had to check this out because we love, love -loved Mr Inbetween. So , this precursor or inception of Ray feels like we are watching him as a youth, but there is more to it. I have never been to Australia but I can so relate to the environment. He brings it right to us . He is such a gifted guy . This stands alone and while I can't speak to the order of watching ( if you remotely like this ) you can't watch one without the other Imo. If you are a film buff or a couch cartoon-binger ( I happen to be both) this construct makes an excellent addition to a repertoire and for a highly satisfying watch.