Warning DOES contain spoiler so don't read until after you've seen the movie.
I just watched this last night on DVD and really enjoyed it. I'm so easily disappointed in movies these days. Disappointed in most of them. Big budget. Big name actors. Hugely technical stunts. Ho Hum. What was the moral of that story? I often find myself asking at the end of the movie - what was the moral of that? What message can I identify with in the real world?
This seemed like a delightfully creative little fictionalisation to me. The movie has been represented as creative fantasy so no need to take it too seriously. I didn't mind the title at all. Afterall Houdini's (show) life was based on Death Defying Acts. But this movie turns out to be a love story with an element of the very spiritualism he was trying to debunk. I couldn't help feel that Houdini always wanted to pay someone that prize money. I suspect deep down he was always hoping he would find that inexplicable connection to the afterlife even though he knew it would be unlikely as he was most qualified in the tricks of that trade.
Those rare few individuals that have the wonderful talent to tune into visions or cosmic consciousness or whatever are the first to concede others will call it a delusion and science will always find another explanation. Usually.
So street tough and street wise Mary (Catherine) is focused on the scam of a lifetime. The character is obviously supposed to be a beautiful woman practiced in the art of beguiling men. Catherine pulls it off for me. I find her exquisitely beautiful. Houdini's (Guy) interest is a little peculiar (kinky?) perhaps. She even wonders herself is he falling for her because she's beautiful and she's growing attracted to him or because she reminds him of his mother?
These two get in each others head space and I had to laugh when when the daughter (psychic sidekick) says (in her concern of watching her mother fall for the charismatic and artful player) "don't have just another roll in the hay - like you did with my dad."
Ah the dynamics of the interpersonal relationships between men and woman. Lust. Love. As a man maybe it's easier for me to have trouble telling the difference some times. But it's all in the game.
This is where we get to that perfect little dialogue. I liked it anyway.
"Look what you've done to me"
"I only made you fall in love" (Sounds like a player line to me. Maybe she had it coming. The player you are the player you get baby)
"That wasn't love. That was infatuation. Just another fling. But it didn't quite happen did it."
"I'm afraid. I'm afraid of myself. What I feel for you. What I want. It's shameful"
"It's not shameful Harry. Who taught you that? It's what men and women do and sometimes if you're really lucky in between the sweaty sheets you'll find a little bit of true human love."
"Did you ever find it?"
(If you watch the movie you'll get the answer)
The moral of the story. Sounds just like real life -
Yes I'm attracted to you. Yes it feels like love (for the moment anyway) and it's the best feeling I've felt in a while. But my life - it's someplace else right now. Love. Eternal or ephemeral. You decide.
I just watched this last night on DVD and really enjoyed it. I'm so easily disappointed in movies these days. Disappointed in most of them. Big budget. Big name actors. Hugely technical stunts. Ho Hum. What was the moral of that story? I often find myself asking at the end of the movie - what was the moral of that? What message can I identify with in the real world?
This seemed like a delightfully creative little fictionalisation to me. The movie has been represented as creative fantasy so no need to take it too seriously. I didn't mind the title at all. Afterall Houdini's (show) life was based on Death Defying Acts. But this movie turns out to be a love story with an element of the very spiritualism he was trying to debunk. I couldn't help feel that Houdini always wanted to pay someone that prize money. I suspect deep down he was always hoping he would find that inexplicable connection to the afterlife even though he knew it would be unlikely as he was most qualified in the tricks of that trade.
Those rare few individuals that have the wonderful talent to tune into visions or cosmic consciousness or whatever are the first to concede others will call it a delusion and science will always find another explanation. Usually.
So street tough and street wise Mary (Catherine) is focused on the scam of a lifetime. The character is obviously supposed to be a beautiful woman practiced in the art of beguiling men. Catherine pulls it off for me. I find her exquisitely beautiful. Houdini's (Guy) interest is a little peculiar (kinky?) perhaps. She even wonders herself is he falling for her because she's beautiful and she's growing attracted to him or because she reminds him of his mother?
These two get in each others head space and I had to laugh when when the daughter (psychic sidekick) says (in her concern of watching her mother fall for the charismatic and artful player) "don't have just another roll in the hay - like you did with my dad."
Ah the dynamics of the interpersonal relationships between men and woman. Lust. Love. As a man maybe it's easier for me to have trouble telling the difference some times. But it's all in the game.
This is where we get to that perfect little dialogue. I liked it anyway.
"Look what you've done to me"
"I only made you fall in love" (Sounds like a player line to me. Maybe she had it coming. The player you are the player you get baby)
"That wasn't love. That was infatuation. Just another fling. But it didn't quite happen did it."
"I'm afraid. I'm afraid of myself. What I feel for you. What I want. It's shameful"
"It's not shameful Harry. Who taught you that? It's what men and women do and sometimes if you're really lucky in between the sweaty sheets you'll find a little bit of true human love."
"Did you ever find it?"
(If you watch the movie you'll get the answer)
The moral of the story. Sounds just like real life -
Yes I'm attracted to you. Yes it feels like love (for the moment anyway) and it's the best feeling I've felt in a while. But my life - it's someplace else right now. Love. Eternal or ephemeral. You decide.