The Magician

The Magician comes to the UK for its first international release following moderate success in its native Australia. It's the latest in an increasing number of movies that are proving that going digital is the affordable way for aspiring filmmakers to actually get something made.

Scott Ryan wrote, directed and stars in his debut feature, created with a couple of film schoolmates on a nonexistent budget. Using his lack of finances creatively, the film takes the guise of a guerrilla documentary, filmed on the supposed hoof by Max (Massimiliano Andrighetto) as he follows around his friend and neighbour, Ray Shoesmith (Scott Ryan), who is a professional hitman.

Max tags along as Ray goes about his business, waiting for his targets, staking out hotels and unflinchingly killing a few people. Pretty soon they've struck up a chatty relationship and it's not long before Max is embroiled and implicated in Ray's "business."

So far, so Man Bites Dog.

As with Benoit Peolvoorde's 1992 serial killer satire, Ryan carries the piece with a sterling central performance. His Ray is not cold, mechanical and crisp suited, but human, ambling and track suited. Ryan invests his Aussie bloke with a still sense of presence and confidence along with some layering of mundane reality and believable idiosyncrasies. His manner of regular talks to the camera, or Max just behind it, go a fair way to being convincing - no mean feat, considering he is meant to be a contract assassin.

That said, it's clear that improv had a hand in the dialogue's freewheeling style and this isn't always natural enough to carry it through. The single camerawork, however, does for the most part lend itself to this, while never being as cinematically stylish as Man Bites Dog's black-and-white presentation, although the Belgium film might have looked more like this if the cheap technology were available 15 years ago.

In using the now customary mockumentary device of practically involving the actual filmmaker, Ryan underuses opportunities to comment on themes, such as the ubiquitous reality television, or our role as audience/voyeur/requester of violence. Without such deeper contextualising, the film loses some of the substance that Ryan's naturalistic acting is trying to bring. He does give the Aussie male psyche a raking over, though.

Light it may eventually be, but, all in all, Ryan and Co mostly pull off the conceit to turn in a quirky indie that's more engaging than most mainstream fare.