Sci-Fi London Festival 2019: Majic

Multiple alternative realities (and travelling between them) are hardly ever done well in films; writers and directors tend to cherry pick the bits that suit and forget the logic, leaving the viewer watching something frustratingly half-baked.

Majic is by no means a perfect movie but it does the alternative reality thing better than most and that’s because it doesn’t over complicate the idea.

Majic cracks straight on with the film without hesitation and, from the moment Paula Brancati (“Dark Oracle”, “Moon Point”) appears as Bernwood shooting her YouTube video to the final couch scene, you’re drawn into a layered story where the reality is harder to grasp than an oiled up….well frankly anything that’s been oiled up. 

Brancati plays her part well, her lines and emotions flow naturally and convincingly and she’s supported throughout by good acting from Richard Fitzpatrick (“Good Will Hunting”, “The Recruit”) – Anderson, who does the slightly batty old man thing very well. 

Writer and director Erin Berry has done well to keep up the pace of the movie and make it complicated enough to keep you interested but not so complicated that you completely loose the thread of what’s going on.

There’s some humour along the way as well which temporarily relieves the head-scratching. 

There are some subtleties to Majic, things so well written into the story you think nothing of them at the time but by the end of the movie you may start to ask think to yourself ‘ah so…when he was doing that thing, then…..ahhhhhh’.

Majic isn’t an ‘aliens take over our planet with guns and…zzzzzzzzzzzz’ (boring) Hollywood blockbuster with millions spent on explosions and A-star (z-list talent) actors.

But if you want something a little less brain-rotting and you’re going to watch this movie, which I strongly suggest you do, then watch it with eagle eyes because subtle things can slip by unnoticed and there’s something quite clever here.  

Sadly though there were one or two scenes which didn’t quite sit right with the rest of the movie but given it’s nature they can be almost forgiven. 

Frustratingly Majic never gives up all the answers, some smaller points are left like tiny thorns in the side but in the end could all be as simple as Michael Seater (“Murdoch Mysteries”) – Eastman suggests? Or was it Anderson who was right?