Le grand magicien

Part historical drama, part love story, and a LARGE part tongue in cheek social satire, this movie was a sheer delight from beginning to end.

To all that, add the fact that the magic presented is by and large correct and true to the art (unlike the totally incorrect mess that was The Prestige) and this is a movie for a magician to love.

But even without a background in magic, the clever twistyness of the plot, the humor of the dialog and the amazing acrobatics will carry almost anyone with some child in their heart through to the end with a smile on their face.

Truly a gem of a kind Hollywood hasn't made for a long time.

Tony Leung Chiu Wai (Hero, Infernal Affairs, Lust Caution, 2046) and Xun Zhou, one of the best actresses in film, head this tale of intrigue and deception.

In a China destabilized and in social and political confusion, a mysterious magician returns home from Europe. In the background a political intrigue aimed at restoring the Qing Dynasty deposed by the Revolution of 1911. Amid this, a quest to reclaim a stolen love.

Magic, vaudeville, and politics mix in this romance, and one is not sure is it is all a bit confusing.

But it all makes sense in the end, or does it?

This is a fun movie if one doesn't take it to seriously. Best not to go in expecting an Asian version of The Prestige or similar movies. This is basically a subtle comedy with some good characters, good acting, and good directing. The script is a bit confusing at times as one tries to figure out exactly what is going on, but for the most part everything holds together.

I wouldn't call this a great movie or even a "good" movie, but it was fun enough to hold attention for a couple of hours. I came close to giving this 7 stars, but there simply wasn't much that stood out here to make this special. Six stars is my "better than most" rating, which is about where this sits. The actors and the characters they play are the best part, so kudos to them. All in all it's worth the watch.

Derek Yee's name may be synonymous with socially-aware crime thrillers like 'One Nite in Mongkok', 'Protégé' and 'Shinjuku Incident', but the veteran writer/director's latest work- adapted from the novel by Zhang Haifan- shows that the man has quite the sense of humour too. Defying expectations as well by reuniting two heavyweight dramatic actors in Tony Leung and Lau Ching Wan, Yee's 'The Great Magician' plays less like the historical drama you would expect it to and more like a witty comedy packed with trickery, shifting alliances and of course sleight-of-hands.

Just with its tone alone, Yee differentiates his film from Hollywood's critically-acclaimed 'The Illusionist' to which it has been compared to- never mind that both movies deal with the return of a powerful magician and his attempt to win the heart of a woman he has loved before. Leung plays that very magician, Zhang Xian, who comes back to 1920s Beijing to reclaim the love he left behind three years ago and rescue his mentor imprisoned by an arrogant warlord General Bully Lei (Lau Ching Wan). Coincidentally, his lover, Liu Yin (Zhou Xun), has also been taken by Lei as his seventh wife- though despite Lei's best efforts, he has not been able to make her fall in love with him.

The story is as much Zhang Xian's as it is General Lei's, and the equal emphasis that Yee gives to each character affords his audience distinct but equally delightful pleasures. There is campy fun to be had with General Lei's scenes- whether his six wives, including an especially hardworking Third Wife played by Mainland actress Yan Ni, fighting for his attention; or his futile attempts at trying to win Liu Yin's heart; or his condescension towards his second-in-command Butler Liu (Wu Gang)- and Yee deliberately plays them for broad laughs. Nowhere is this more obvious than in a classic scene where General Lei is discussing power plays with fellow bickering warlords (featuring cameos by director Tsui Hark and Vincent Kok), the squabbling and wrangling among them simply a riotous hoot.

On the other hand, the scenes with Zhang Xian crackle with riveting intensity. Yee successfully keeps his audience rapt with Zhang's elaborate prestidigitation, as well as his and that of his magic troupe's plot to kidnap General Lei for the release of the political prisoners Lei has kept imprisoned since assuming power. Zhang's ostensible enmity with Lei- at least in the first half of the movie- also makes for an equally fascinating watch, as the former tries to overcome the latter's inherent suspicion for someone who has (literally) always something up his sleeve. And of course, in the hands of two of the best male actors in Hong Kong, both Zhang and Lei truly come alive.

Last paired on the Johnnie To-produced crime thriller 'The Longest Nite' (for which both Leung and Lau received Best Actor nominations at the year's Hong Kong Film Awards), both actors seem to be having a great time playing against their usual serious dramatic type roles. Lau gleefully hams it up in an over-the-top performance that is surprisingly endearing, especially for his well-meaning but unsuccessful attempts at trying to impress Liu Yin. On the other hand, Leung is charismatic as ever as the titular 'great magician' performing with poise and confidence his array of dazzling tricks. Though a trifle compared to his previous roles in 'In the Mood for Love', '2046' or 'Lust, Caution', Leung is still as alluring playing the pining lover, and his scenes with Zhou Xun have an understated chemistry.

Yee engineers a number of twists and turns in the script he co-wrote with his regular collaborators Chun Tin-Nam and Lau Ho-Leung, but the most rewarding one is that which changes the dynamic between Zhang and Lei and allows them to share the screen as allies. The quick-witted Zhang and the brusquer Lei makes for an oddball but eccentrically appealing combination, and the second half of the film works like a charm thanks to the rapport and repartee between the two actors. Their engaging performances also anchor an otherwise frenetic final half-hour where Yee and his writers try to pack a lot of plot development into too little time- which admittedly also causes the tone of the film to veer quite dangerously into farce.

Mostly though Yee treads the fine line between wit and farce deftly- and even if certain scenes, especially those with Lau Ching Wan and Yan Ni, end up in slapstick, the movie is almost always smarter than what it appears to be. Yee may have been considerably influenced by the runaway success of Jiang Wen's 'Let the Bullets Fly', so while it doesn't possess the latter's ingenuity and social acuity, there are similarities in the 'wink-wink' comic tone of both films. Much as it draws from historical events- the turbulent period after the fall of Yuan Shikai and his cronies trying to re-establish the Chinese monarchy- there is little to be taken seriously here, especially not when you have General Lei telling his guards to drive a tank backwards down the dust-beaten streets of Beijing because the other end of the vehicle looks nicer. It's a departure from the usual Derek Yee films for sure, but one that's light-hearted, witty and entertaining fun all around- besides, how often do you get both Tony Leung and Sean Lau at the same party?

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Period plece. 1920s china. A local warlord is trying to impress his newest wife. She is not impressed by his position. So he resorts to magic to impress her. But who is trying to impress who? And who is in the position of power? A modern take on a very ancient battle in china. The regional warlords actually won out when there wasn't a unified china, so they are hoping to stay independent as long as possible. First complaint: white captions on white background....?? Really, netflix?? We've been doing caption for forty years now. Haven't we learned anything?? I missed so much of this, just due to bad captions! And some of this was just trick photography. I would have been more impressed if they had stuck to magician's trickery. The general wants to impress the new wife with magic, but she's a tough audience. Stars the awesome tony teung chiu wai. See him in something else... he's done so many better projects! Directed by tung shing yee.