The Il-LUSION-ist

I went to the Arclight this evening and saw Ed Norton's new movie, THE ILLUSIONIST. I was entertained. But, I can't say it was the best movie I've seen this year. The character work was interesting, the set design was amazing, Jessica Biels looked hot (not enough for me, but I'm sure there are those of you out there who will gladly pay $14.50 to see her), and Ed Norton had some crazy facial hair all down his neck.

The most annoying thing for me were the visual affectations used throughout the film. Dick Pope shot the film (and I've enjoyed other films he's shot) and it uses this "irising" effect that's meant to emulate early hand-cranked cinematography. They also introduced a flicker, and some soft focus on the edges. I got a raging headache about 20 minutes into the film, but I'm interested to hear what other folks experienced. I might have thought the film was better if I could've tolerated the viz fx.