Deceptive Practice -- Film Review

Deceptive Practice:  The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay

Directed by Molly Edelstein

 

 

This is a fascinating documentary featuring sleight of hand artist, Ricky Jay.  He is a master of card tricks and anything related to magic.  I love magic shows, but have never had any desire to do it myself.  This man is very different.  He started doing magic at age four and has been immersed in it ever since.  The film is not a systematic biography, although it does contain much information about Ricky Jay and his life as a magician.  It is full of intriguing displays of magic tricks and a wealth of information about the history of the practice of sleight of hand and many of its early practitioners.  Ricky Jay has been a collector of historical materials and writings on the history of magic, and has written a number of books himself on the subject.  The film drew heavily on these resources to offer a full bodied overview of many of the precursors and mentors to Ricky Jay going back into the nineteenth century.  The practitioners seem to be predominantly Jewish and they form a tight subculture wherein the craft is passed down from mentors to students.  The film did not explore how the magic tricks are done.  You will not go behind the scenes and see how the illusions are created, but what interested me is that it is very much an artform of individual practitioners.  Magicians tend keep their methods secret, not only from the public, but also from each other.  It is a craft that one has to learn through mentoring and ultimately through creative exploration on one's own.  I was also impressed with the virtuosity that many magicians achieve.  They are akin to top level musicians or athletes who spend many years in total dedication to mastering the technique of their art. 

The film does not attempt an in depth personal exploration of Ricky Jay.  It tends to avoid delving into his personal life, although we do learn that he left home at an early age and has had little contact with his family since.  He has also been married for seven years and seems pleased with his wife, although she is not interviewed in the film.  There are many interviews with people who know Ricky Jay and have worked with him, including playwright and director, David Mamet.  Jay is reputed to be difficult and abrasive, but in the film he comes off as low key, engaging and very personable.  He is obviously highly intelligent and the absolute master of his craft.  I didn't get any profound insight into his character or into the psychology of magic from this film.  The film is not thought provoking in that respect.  It is a compendium of facts on the history of magic, some of its more notable practitioners, and lots of sensational tricks that will dazzle you.  One cannot help but be drawn into this film by the skill of the practitioners, the illusions one is doomed to fall for, and the eccentric, anomalous individuals who made this art form their life's obsession.  Seen at the San Francisco International Film Festival, May 6, 2013.