For its twentieth edition the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival has a special focus on film productions from Taiwan. Among the very divers program is also a series. The festival shows the first two episodes of “The Magician on the Skywalk” by Gilles Yang. The director adapts with it a story by Wu Ming-yi, collected in ten short stories.
The Magician and the Skywalk is screening at Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival
This fantastic youth series sees as protagonist a young boy everyone calles “Shorty”. He is a dreamer, always thinking how to excel in different video games. At school and at home he teams up with two other boys from the neighborhood, Shorty being the most bold of all. To support his family, he sells shoe soles at the market. He uses the percentage he gets from his mother for the video games. He has heard of a place called the level 99 where only the best players have access to. In this kind of paradise, one can play video games all day.
On the Skywalk of the town market hall where Shorty sell his soles, he meets a stranger. A man with long hair that claims to be a magician. The rather silent and calm person fascinates Shorty. The two develop a special bond and Shorty gets insights in some tricks of the magician. There is for example a little black man of paper that can dance, if you know how to. But the magician shares his knowledge only hesitantly.
In the first episodes, the story develops only slowly. We get to know the different protagonists and get an insight in their social context. The focus is on the child perspective of the main protagonist Shorty. Still, it is not really clear for which kind of public the series is meant. For a young audience, the pace seems too slow and for adults, the story lacks thrill. The fantastic part is too shallow.
The setting and the depiction of the society is interesting. The old market hall used for the filming has a particular ruinous charm. It fits perfectly the 1980s in which the story takes place. Vivid, warm colors dominate the pictures and accentuate the retro style of the series. The latter shows, for example, in the clothes and the technical standards.
Overall, the series is surely very well crafted, but lacks of a precise and unique profile.
