Magic Magic (2013)

Alicia (Juno Temple) visits her cousin Sarah (Emily Browning) in Chile. Sarah is suddenly called back to Santiago to take exams (weak plot point) while Alicia remains isolated with Sarah's inhospitable friends. Brink (Michael Cera) is a tag-a-long who keeps hitting on Alicia who does not like him. In fact I didn't like him. He was immature, prissy, dorky, and creepy all rolled up into one. Barbara (Catalina Sandino Moreno), the host, was cold while Agustin (Agustín Silva) an amateur hypnotist and Sarah's BF lacked personality.The film was boring for the first hour as sleepless, jet lagged, Alicia didn't want to be on the island anymore than the other people wanted her there. We get clues early on that there are issues. After the first hour, the film turns weird, but I found it lacking in entertainment value because the characters and dialouge had been dead for too long.This film is not a horror film, nor is it an action-thriller. It is a drama which teases you into thinking it is a thriller. Not something I will own, and regretted the rental.Parental Guide: F-bomb (2 languages) Nudity (Juno Temple) sex?

Magic Magic is one of the original and darkest films I have seen in a while. To call it a horror movie wouldn't be quite accurate, but boy is it unsettling.The story revolves around Alicia, a young woman who comes to Chile to visit her cousin Sarah. Sarah, her boyfriend and her two friends pick Alicia up, and shortly afterwards an emergency forces Sarah to leave Alicia for a few days with her friends. Alicia obviously feels very uncomfortable in this foreign environment, and Sarah's friends are unfriendly and cruel towards her, albeit harmless enough. Alicia's paranoia starts to escalate, until it becomes clear that she is starting to have a psychotic breakdown.This film really resonated with me, and I imagine anyone who's ever dealt with mental illness or perhaps drug use will be very unnerved by 'Magic Magic'. This movie reminded me of my late teen years when I was smoking a lot of pot and taking psychedelics and the paranoia that plagued me. This film captured that feeling in a gritty and uncompromising manner that had my heart literally pounding. I don't think I've felt this kind of dread from a movie in a long, long time.I read some other reviews likening 'Magic Magic' to a David Lynch film, and there's some truth to that, but a more appropriate comparison would be to that of 'Repulsion', Polanski's black and white horror masterpiece.I can't think of one thing wrong with this movie-it's unfortunate there aren't more gems like this out there. If you haven't seen Magic Magic, you're missing out.

MAGIC MAGIC is a horror film with a twist, and to provide any kind of review of the material at all means that I need to spoil the twist. It starts out as your usual 'backpacking Americans run into trouble abroad' type thriller, complete with lots of animal cruelty for those who like that sort of thing, and some of the most repulsive characters ever put on screen.As the storyline progresses the viewer gradually becomes aware that this is something different. The horrors aren't supernatural and there's no killer here after the group, instead, the horror is internal and more realistic than most; it's the horror of mental illness. Sadly, the script is quite wishy-washy when it comes to the specifics of the thing, and the aforementioned bad characterisation spoils the whole thing. The Chilean locations are nice, but Michael Cera plays one of the most irritating characters I've ever seen, and Juno Temple (KILLER JOE) isn't much better in yet another degrading part.

This film will not entertain you. It may even upset you. If you want to have a good time, go watch Mr. Bean on vacation or Age of Ultron.This film is all about trying to understand a reality that may be totally alien to a normal person. Based on an experience Director Sebastian Silva had on a trip to Brazil, it portrays how seemingly mundane situations can turn out to be nightmarish for someone with traces of Paranoid-Schizophrenia: Alicia, a timid California girl, joins her cousin Sarah on a road trip to southern Chile. Along come Agustin (Sarah's boyfriend), Barbara (Agustin's older sister), and Brink, an annoying, hyper active and not very empathetic American friend of Agustin. Sarah is quickly out of the crew due to having to perform an exam to save her college year. Later on it is revealed that it was just an excuse to get an abortion. Her absence leaves Alicia alone with the trio of Spanish speaking strangers, which seem to increasingly alienate and harass her. Tension builds up slowly, as Brink and Agustin try to have fun just to make Alicia feel more and more uncomfortable and scared, escalating to a dramatic ending. Lots of scenes are beautifully filmed, and portray stunning panoramas of southern Chile's Lakes and mountains. (I'd dare to say the film's location is some isle on the middle of Lago Ranco) This film is filled with subtleties that will give you hints on how to understand Alice's seemingly insane behaviour. If you have had an experience with someone who suffers such a disease, you will understand it right on. It is not simple to achieve what Silva has masterfully done with this film. Not an easy to recommend film, but certainly a must watch.