DVD Magic Magic

Perhaps this movie only works if you've known someone with the kind of debilitating paranoia that Alicia (Juno Temple) suffers from. I don't know. All I can say is that I was glued to it from start to finish and I honestly feel that it was masterfully crafted and offers so much more than most people are giving it credit for.

I understand the backlash… it really is NOT a horror movie. But its not a showcase of intangible visual art-house dream-sequence garbage either, which is what I think people might imagine it to be when they read the synopsis. For me, it was never even the slightest bit boring.

If you want to see how mundane situations can be brilliantly transformed into nightmarish experiences for one character, while other characters awkwardly try to deal with it (and often provoke it), eventually watching this dynamic grow to high levels of darkness and intensity, well then this is the movie for you!

I wish more people could look a little deeper and appreciate the many layers and eccentricities of this movie! Like another reviewer mentioned, many of the scenes could be perceived as flat out hilarious. That is, if you can allow yourself to be simultaneously mortified and amused. This movie has the ability to provoke a wide array of CONTRASTING emotions. I've never seen anything quite like it.

It's not a movie for everyone. But if you read this review and still want to watch it, you'll probably think its pretty neat.

A shy young girl called Alicia goes on a trip to a remote area of Chile for a vacation. When there, she begins to feel threatened by her companions. Before long she starts to experience strange events and the others begin to become alarmed by her behaviour.

This is a real slow-burner of a movie. It hints at all manner of things and remains to the end somewhat enigmatic. It's all about tone and feel. Not a great deal really happens in Magic Magic, so in order to appreciate it you need to just go with its rhythms. It's helped a lot by fine acting; especially lead Juno Temple who puts in another fearless performance. I saw her in the recent Killer Joe in which she was very good and here she is even better in a pretty complex role. Also impressive was Michael Cera who played the annoying man-child Brink who is involved in most of the amusing moments. The cast do well but the group itself is a very strange one in which you probably wouldn't want to spend a lot of time with yourself.

The combination of a paranoid central character with the mysterious foreign setting means that there is often some uncertainty about whether Alicia's problems are psychological or if there is some strange supernatural source in some way involved. By the end there is still a level of doubt and ambiguity on this, although others may have more definite views. For a thriller it's a little too subtle for its own good perhaps, it maybe more accurately could be described as a character study. Either way it does have an interesting ambiance that kept my attention.