For the first period piece in his lengthy career as director, acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Yee takes audiences back about a century to early Republican-era northern China for an entertaining tale of showmanship, sleight of hand and subterfuge. The title character of The Great Magician is Chang Hsien (Tony Leung Chiu-wai), who strides into the picture and sets up a magic theatre. As dazzling as his skills may be on the stage, what Chang really wants to do is help revolutionaries seize local warlord Bully Lei (Lau Ching-wan).
Lei and his right-hand man Liu Kunshan (Wu Gang) have been using magic shows as part of an army recruitment exercise, and they’re also taxing the locals heavily as they harbour grand ambitions for power. The flamboyant warlord is also accumulating concubines — newest one is supposed to be acrobat Liu Yin (Zhou Xun), if she would only accept his advances. Complicating matters is the fact that Liu Yin’s father (Paul Chun) is being held prisoner by Lei and Liu Kunshan in hopes of him revealing the key to a magical mind-control technique. When it emerges that Chang and Liu Yin were once engaged to wed, the scene is set for a succession of love-triangle advances, conspiracies and trickery, and — thanks to filmmaking minutiae coming courtesy of a dodgy Japanese film crew — musings on the nature of illusion and filmed entertainment.
Released just ahead of the Chinese New Year festive season and based on a novel by mainland Chinese author Zhang Haifan, Yee’s lightly comic extravaganza packs in plenty and aims to please. The pairing of stars Leung and Lau, while taking some time to get going, evolves into playful scenes of cheery banter and cunning plots. For Hong Kong audiences who recall Leung and Lau’s collaborations going as far back as mid-1980s TV, the appeal is in part a nostalgic one. The duo’s strong chemistry onscreen is unmistakable, and it’s a highlight even for moviegoers new to the players’ work. Indeed, so much weight is given to the two men in The Great Magician that other distinctive players are kept to the sidelines — including actress Zhou Xun, who shared prime real estate on the film’s posters and puts in one of her typically fine performances.
Also geared to appeal is the use of magic in the plot. Perhaps Yee was tapping into the growing interest in magic across Greater China, with TV magic shows increasingly common and some of their talents even putting in film appearances. Street and theatre magic scenes at their best add flourishes of fantasy as the drama unfolds, though purists will quibble about the snazzy CGI in their staging. High-budget production standards also present classy settings and extravagant costuming (with Lau’s showy getup, not to mention his eccentric performance as a whole, bringing to mind Michael Hui’s role in Li Han-hsiang’s 1972 black comedy The Warlord), and choreographer Stephen Tung Wai adds oomph in the action department. Helmer Yee may be best known for his richly textured contemporary dramatic works and the occasional top-notch thriller, but in The Great Magician he shows that turning in flashy period pieces is well within his reach too.
Tim Youngs