“Magical or Not?” ITF Read & Watch: The Illusionist (1990 story & 2006 film)

Neil Berger’s adaptation of Steven Millhauser’s short story “Eisenheim the Illusionist” introduced a romantic plot to a story about magical deception, but does it deliver? In episode 249, Luke & James discuss an overlooked film from the aughts, Edward Norton’s performance as Eisenheim, an extremely elaborate plot, and the nature of ambiguous magic in movies about stage magic. Then they vote on which was better: the short story or the movie!

Movie discussion:

Ink to Film

• Buy any of the source material books or guest novels at Ink to Film's bookshop: www.bookshop.org/shop/inktofilm
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• Intro/outro music: “Ghibli Waltz” by Ross Bugden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbOiqJJ5RxU

Luke Elliott

• Read “What Good is a Sad Backhoe?” by Luke Elliott
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James Bailey

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jame_Bail