An Interview with Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom, directors of 'An Honest Liar'

[AN HONEST LIAR screens Saturday March 28th at 4:20 pm and Sunday March 29th at 11:35 am at Tower City Cinemas as part of the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival.]

See all posts about the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival 

Review by Bob Ignizio

While I probably saw James “The Amazing” Randi on TV as a kid performing some sort of magic or escape, I first really became aware of him in my early twenties when I took a college course at the University of Akron called “Lost Tribes and Sunken Continents” that taught critical thinking about paranormal claims (i.e. stuff likes psychics, ghosts, UFOs, etc.). In this world, Randi was one of the key figures, debunking psychics, faith healers, poltergeists, and the like with his knowledge, based on years in the illusion biz, of how the human mind can be tricked.

An Honest Liar (March 28th and 29th at Tower City Cinemas as part of the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival)

[AN HONEST LIAR screens Saturday March 28th at 4:20 pm and Sunday March 29th at 11:35 am at Tower City Cinemas as part of the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival.]

See all posts about the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival 

Review by Bob Ignizio

When co-directors Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom began shooting their documentary AN HONEST LIAR, it's subject, stage magician/escape artist turned skeptical paranormal investigator James Randi, had already lived a life more than worthy of a film. What the filmmakers couldn't possibly have known was that during the course of filming, a shocking revelation would come to light regarding Randi's long time companion (now husband) Jose Alvarez. It's the kind of surprising turn of events that some filmmakers might have used to paint their subject in a negative light, while others might have simply swept it under the rug rather than make their subject uncomfortable. It's to Weinstein and Measom's credit that instead they tackle the issue head-on, showing Randi as a more human and fallible figure than his public persona often suggests, all without undermining the important work the self proclaimed charlatan has done in exposing phony psychics, faith healers, and the like.

Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (July 19th and 21st at the Cleveland Museum of Art)

[DECEPTIVE PRACTICE: THE MYSTERIES AND MENTORS OF RICKY JAY screens Friday July 19th at 6:45 pm and Sunday July 21st at 1:30 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art Morley Lecture Hall.]

Review by Charles Cassady, Jr.

I think I have the solution to the student-loans crisis that is threatening to leave a number of underemployed college and university graduates in endless debt the rest of their lives. It's simple really. Just have all the liquor companies offer scholarships based on binge drinking and champion-level alcoholism. Millions of students would instantly qualify. Why, upper education in Ohio in particular would come practically free.

That's one of my more clever satirical propositions, but what's it have to do with DECEPTIVE PRACTICE: THE MYSTERIES AND MENTORS OF RICKY JAY? Oh, nothing. It's just that Molly Bernstein's documentary is one of the best things I've seen lately. In case this review is read by more people than usual I want them to appreciate my rapier wit.

Now You See Me

Review by Pete Roche

Pick a card, any card.

You know the drill.  The magician shuffles your selection back into the deck without looking at it, then either identifies it or—if he’s flashy—makes it appear somewhere else entirely.

NOW YOU SEE ME is a tough caper film to latch onto because the screenwriters don’t let their audience pick a card.  All the choices have been made for us and we’re just, well, left to watch the cards fall where they may.  The premise involves four street magicians who band together to stage outrageous heists at several high-profile gigs, leaving the amazed crowds with the cash.  We’re made privy to the secrets behind their less-significant illusions, such as the old rabbit-in-a-box disappearing standby, but the script necessitates keeping us in the dark about why the quartet was assembled, who summonsed them, and who they’re trying to fool with their multimillion dollar swindles.  Which means we’re left feeling rather stupid and—when the ending lays everything out neatly for us (like an episode of SCOOBY-DOO or epilogue to one of Guy Ritchie’s SHERLOCK HOLMES films)—we get the nagging sensation we’ve been cheated because the dearth of fair, proper clues prevents us from being armchair sleuths who participate in the investigation.