The Illusionist (2010)

The animated “The Illusionist” is nearly wordless except for garbled French, Gaelic and English, opens in black-and-white, is covered in bleakness and sketched emotion, and is hand-drawn. This is old-school animation in line with Hayao Miyazaki, deep and dark, always beautiful, written and directed by Sylvain Chomet. Here a French stage magician (Jean-Claude Donda) finds his life marginalized in 1959 by television, the first wave of British pop and increasingly popular movies. The man heads to the United Kingdom, searching for an audience. He eventually finds one admirer: A young chambermaid (Eilidh Rankin) who thinks magic is real. He likens her to a daughter, trying to buy her clothes and shoes. It’s all a bit “The Professional,” with no guns, and apparently inspired by a script from French filmmaker Jacques Tati, who had a tumultuous relationship with a daughter. The story floats by, but there’s undeniable magic here. Some scenes – the opening act, the painting of a billboard – are mini-epics. Fact: A human-drawn line of a desperate facial expression is far more alive than the best CGI. A-