Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Comwayon A Disappointing Continuation

Sharkflei Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

tkmca This is an amazing piece of filming, original made as a "short" by Scott Ryan, who was talked into making it into a full-length feature. Written, directed and the main actor Scott Ryan made this film a budget of $3,000. Australian Dollar. Awards and film festivals: Australian Film Critics association Awards 2005: Nominated: Best Actor In A Lead Role (Scott Ryan) Cinematic intelligence Agency Trenchcoat Awards 2005: Nominated: Best Australian film Edinburgh International film Festival 2005: World Première If Awards 2005: Nominated: best Actor (Scott Ryan), Independent Spirit (Scott Ryan, Michele Bennett, Nash Edgerton) Why this film wasn't publicised and advertised to the hilt is beyond my understanding. It is totally fascinating and crosses all age barriers. How can you so like a man who's profession is "Hitman" Witty and so matter-of-fact that you don't realise that you are empathising with a professional killer. You like him. 10/10

Lucky_C OK, so this film may be derivative. It owes a hell of a lot to Man Bites Dog, and more specifically The Last Horror Movie. But I enjoyed both of those, and this story about a hit-man who hires his film student neighbour to make a documentary about him is a) as dark as coal and b) funny as hell. There are differences between this film and the afore mentioned inspirations though. In Man Bites Dog and the Last Horror Movie, the protagonists were crazed killers, who attacked for no reason, and attacked constantly. In this, only 2 people are killed. The story is based around one of the leads 'jobs', and is indispersed with events and interviews based both before and after the job. The writing is both entertaining and moving, as the lead considers himself a man of some morals, just with a rubbish job. He goes and helps a friend take revenge on a former colleague who robbed him, because he considers it the right thing to do. He kills another friend in cold blood, because he believes it the right thing to do for his friend. Twisted logic and morality, but it's refreshing to find out why he kills. The film is worth seeing if the opportunity arises, and whilst it is a black as coal comedy, it's one that can make you think. And it's always good to see a film about killing where killing isn't the main feature.

nobbytatoes In a mock/documentary style, we travel around with Ray Shoesmith, a hit-man in the city Melbourne. After his latest hit on an unsuspecting man shot in his garage, Ray moves on to his next person. Tony is a drug dealer, who Ray's friend Edna has mixed up with. Grabbing Tony off the streets, throwing him into the car, drives off to the middle of nowhere for Tony to dig his grave. Jumping from Tony's ordeal, to other hits and Ray's rocky friendship with Edna, we start to see who this enigma of a man is.In recent times, films have been taking that step of raising life mundane aspects into a form of entertainment. The magician runs off a series of non-interconnected conversation, small banter, that ultimately has no end game; it doesn't bring much insight into the people we are watching. Gay actors, what car would you most want to own, would you eat your own excrement, Mardi Gras, etc. The dark humor that is entwined into these conversation stop The Magician failing into redundancy. Tiffs over how a dead man walking digs his own grave is nothing short of devilish. The problem with the conversations is they lack a lot of consistency. While many grab your attention, other fall flat and become mundane; much to the subject matter.For a hit-man, Ray is one unorthodox professional. Writer/director Scott Ryan spins the image of a hit-man from a suave, professional assign to an everyday Australian who you wouldn't pick from the crowd. Ryan never portrays Ray as an antihero, nor tries to make you feel sympathy for him, as he is an amoral person, in a amoral profession.Also taking the lead as Ray, Scott Ryan brings so much charisma to Ray. There is such a presence he holds, you don't want to miss a word he says. At times you are just wondering what is going on in his head. Ben Walker as Tony and Nathaniel Lindsay as Edna both give solid performances; both being amateur actors.The Magician does have it flaws, though they are overcome by some very interesting conversations with one strange man.

douglasfilm I recently saw the world premier of this film at the Sydney Film Festival and I admit I wasn't expecting much. It was dubbed as some kind of Chopper-like film with no budget, no known cast and shot on the streets. I was surprised to find it quite entertaining and a real relief from the mostly poor uninspired films currently being made within the Australian Film Finance system. 'The Magician' has a real edge and it has one element lacking in most of the cinema produced in Australia, a strong, genuinely funny lead in writer/director Scott Ryan. Shot in digital video this is a mocumentary on Ray Shoestring, a Melbournian hit-man, a man that makes people disappear. We following him on his exploits see the reality of this profession. Full of improvised dialog and shot in a raw, realist style, you get an insight into the mind of a flawed killer. The character takes his time on camera, you see him thinking and he becomes disturbingly real. The funniest film I've seen come out of my native country in years. Its interesting to note, according to Scott, it was filmed in ten days on a self raised AU$3000. It is a testimate to the passion of the Australian filmmaker making what he can without the need for 'developement' money and 5 - 8 years of 'writing'. It's the most inpiring self funded work I've seen since Robert Rodriguez filmed 'El Mariachi' for $US6000 in 1991.