Ddirected by Guillermo Del Toro, The fair of illusions airs tonight in first tv on Rai 3 at 9.20pm. The film, a noir tinged with mystery and intrigue, is set in rural America in the 1940s. At the heart of the story is Bradley Cooper, surrounded by a spectacular cast that includes a very sensual and cruel Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Willem Defoe and Toni Collette.
The fair of illusionsthe plot of the movie
Stanton Carlisle (Cooper), is the carnie of a carnival in the Midwest but also a skilled con man. In fact, man manages, with great ease, to manipulate peoplethanks to a short and impactful speech, almost from mentalist.
To best pull off his scams, Stanton “collaborates” with a psychiatrist, Lilith Ritter (Cate Blanchett)more treacherous than him, however extort money from New York’s elite and, thanks to the doctor’s collaboration, his shots have become increasingly refined.
Molly also works in the same amusement park as the man (Rooney Mara), with which man is infatuated, and her clairvoyant friend Zeena (Toni Collette). And when one day a rich impresario goes to the amusement park, Stanton seems to have found the perfect victim.
For this, he asks his trusted Lilith for help to defraud the tycoon but what he doesn’t even imagine is that the latter is, in reality, one of his astute and highly skilled rivals.
The star cast
After the triumph of The shape of water – Golden Lion in Venice and 4 Oscars in 2017 – Del Toro chooses to adapt the novel of the same name by William Lindsay Gresham. Already brought to the screen in 1947 and starring Tyrone Power (Romina’s father).
With a notable leap in “authorship” compared to his previous filmsmore appealing to the general public, it is not surprising that the Mexican director has found in the pages of the book some typical elements of his cinema.
From dreamy and magical atmospheres mixed with darker and more obscure tonesas in Pan’s Labyrinth of 2006, to the point of almost a horror fairytale dimension, without forgetting love for the marginalized, the so-called “freaks”. Which abound here as in the mythical Tod Browning film of 1932.
Cate Blanchett and Bradley Cooper in “Fair of Illusions”. (Kerry Hayes/20th Century Studios)
There is also something to contribute to the film’s charm the clear feeling that del Toro deliberately conceived The fair of illusions like a movie from another time. Two and a half hours long, very rich in production and stratified in developmentcontaminated by genres such as (in addition to noir), psychological drama and sentimental drama. And above all with the idea, long abandoned by American cinema, of enclose in a single film a cast of the highest magnitude.
From a very good Bradley Cooper who turns out to be perfect in the role of a fraudulent Don Giovanni in double-breasted femme fatale Cate Blanchett. With a look that seems to come straight from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Applause also goes to a very sweet Rooney Mara in the role of Molly, the “electric” girl whose number consists in resisting the discharges that pass through it. Unique loyal and virtuous character in a world of ruthless double agents.
Rooney Mara and Bradley Cooper in “Fair of Illusions”. (Kerry Hayes/20th Century Studios)
Bradley Cooper’s next projects
After the effort of Masterwhich he has already achieved 4 Golden Globe nominationsBradley is dedicating himself to Is This Thing Going On?Where will star alongside Will ArnettCanadian actor who is his best friend (and screenwriter of the film) and famous for the series Arrested Development – Meet my folks. The plot it is still secret.
Furthermore, it is also in the pipeline Steven Spielberg’s next projecttitled for now Untitled Frank Bullitt Project. That is, the recovery of one one of Steve’s most legendary roles McQueenthe policeman Frank Bullitt, star of movie Bullitt Of Peter Yatesreleased in 1968. However, it will not be a remake of the originalbut rather a new story focused on the San Francisco policeman.
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