Going
into MIFF this year, “Magic Magic” was one of my most anticipated films for two
reasons. The first is that “Magic Magic”
is a psychological horror film but the main reason I was eager to see the movie
was because Christopher Doyle was the cinematographer on the project. Before MIFF, “Magic Magic” lacked any real
momentum in regards to audience or critical reactions due to the fact it had
not been screened very often, so it was hard to gauge whether or not the film
was going to be any good or not. Alas,
it turned out to be yet another disappointment for me.
The
film’s protagonist is the beautiful, but innocent (and very sheltered) Alicia
who travels abroad for the first time to Chile to spend time with her cousin,
Sarah, and a group of her friends.
Initially nervous for being so outside of her comfort zone, things go
immediately worse for Alicia when Sarah is summoned back to the States for an
appointment about her future schooling.
It is an appointment she cannot break and as such, heads home immediately,
leaving her already nervous cousin in the company and care of relative
strangers in a country she has no knowledge of.
Feeling isolated from the rest of the group, mainly due to her being
unable to speak Spanish like the rest of them, Alicia continues to become more
and more anxious. Coupled with the fact
that she cannot sleep, Alicia’s behavior gets increasingly erratic as time goes
on which comes to a head after a bad attempt by the group to hypnotize
her. It gets to the point that Alicia
becomes dangerous to herself and those around her, but the question is whether
or not she really is having a nervous breakdown or are her delusions that
Sarah’s friends are out to hurt her justified?
Reading
that synopsis, it gives the impression that “Magic Magic” is going to be an
exciting and grim psychological thriller, and while it is true the film is
grim, it is also true that it is just not very good. In fact it is worse than that; I seriously
disliked “Magic Magic” bordering on hate.
The thing that irritated me most was Michael Cera’s terrible and whiney
performance as Brink, one of Sarah’s friends.
While I applaud Cera’s decision for at least trying something different
and darker than he is normally used to doing, sadly it doesn’t change the fact
that he isn’t very good here. There is a
smugness to his performance that isn’t earned and his character just comes
across as so unlikeable and as a serious dick.
It appears he only exists to antagonize anyone he pleases but when the
tables are turned on him and he becomes the victim, he turns into a sook and
expects something to be done about it.
The
other performances are all a bit of a mixed bag but I thought Australian
actress Emily Browning was very good in her role of Sarah, giving some much
needed reality to the film although her screen time is far too brief. Juno Temple has already proven that she is
good at playing crazy and she does so again here and impresses. Totally wasted however is Catalina Sandino
Moreno as Barbara whose role is completely insignificant to the main plot. For the majority of the movie she is either
bitching about something (or someone, usually Alicia) or studying away from the
rest of the group and she comes across with a real negative vibe. Her character is so passive and does so little
that it makes you wonder why an established actress would agree to play a
nothing role like this.
The main
problem with “Magic Magic” is the fact that Chile itself never becomes a
character (it could have taken place anywhere the way the place is presented)
and the portrayal of hypnosis and voodoo is so hackneyed that it just feels
like a gimmick or a convenience to the plot, rather than feeling organic to the
story. “Magic Magic” had all the
elements to be a great psychological thriller; an isolated location, the
language barrier, a character suffering from anxiety and insomnia surrounded by
strangers, but director Sebastian Silva fumbles these elements to the point
that the film just never works, let alone lets it build in any natural fashion. There is no internal flow to the film;
everything just feels so forced and it also has quite a mean streak through
it. However Silva makes the cardinal sin
of making the film, blessed with all of these great elements, boring.
In
regards to the main reason I saw “Magic Magic”, the cinematography is another problem
with the film. This may be some of the
worst cinematography I have seen from Christopher Doyle yet. “Magic Magic” is a dark film, in both tone
and visuals (the majority of the film happens at night), but Doyle shoots the
film too dark making it impossible to see anything at certain times. The visuals also never seem to compliment the
mood or atmosphere of the film, rather often it actually works against it. It is very hard to build any kind of suspense
when the audience cannot see anything to begin with. Even the daytime photography seemed to lack
the usual inspiration or pizzazz that is usually so prevalent in Doyle’s
work. The only positive thing I can say
about Doyle’s contribution to “Magic Magic” is that when the cinematography
credits came up, Doyle was actually credited along with Glenn Kaplan, so I am
not sure just how much of the film he shot or how much of this mess is his
fault (at least in my mind I can blame all of the bad in “Magic Magic” on
Kaplan, no matter how unfair that is).
Overall,
“Magic Magic” turned out to be yet another disappointment for a film I was
looking forward to. The film has a mean
streak throughout that makes it easy to dislike, but with a set-up as good as “Magic
Magic” had, it is still a bit of a shock just how bad it really is. To top it all off, the film has the distinction
of having some of the worst cinematography I have seen yet from the great
Christopher Doyle.
1.5 Stars.
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