Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay (***)

If you saw The Illusionist and The Prestige and was as intrigued by the magic as by the story and characters, you’ll enjoy this documentary about Jay, who was a consultant on both films (and many others), and played a small part in The Prestige. As grainy footage attests, Jay, now in his 60s, has been performing for audiences since well before his voice changed. His specialty is slight of hand, especially card tricks.

Deceptive Honesty could have been another title for the film. As Jay, born Ricky Potash, notes, a magician tells the audience they’ll be deceived, then does it, even as the audience tries to figure out the trick. There are lots of them in this movie, and I suspect you won’t be any better than I was at figuring them out. And figuring them out would only be half of it. The other half is the skill of performing, honed from endless practice. The actual title of the film promises mysteries, but while many are presented, none is explained. If you know anything about magicians, it’s that they don’t like to explain their illusions to non-practitioners (and only reluctantly to their own kind). Still, I was kind of hoping that at least one of them, perhaps one of the simpler ones, would be explained. Jay’s life is not much of a mystery — mostly. His occupation seems to take up most of his time. But we also learn that, not long after the death of his grandfather, a magician himself, Ricky Potash left home as a teen and never looked back. And that’s all we learn about that.

As for the “mentors” of the title, there are plenty, the bygone ones with wonderful names like “Cardini” and “Al Flosso.” These men (and there are no female magicians featured) taught him their secrets as a child and befriended him as adults. And, in important ways, the world of magic forms a continuum to the past. It has been, and is likely to be in the future, practiced in much the same way for hundreds of years. Jay is most open when he describes these others, and we see clips or photos of them as well. There are relatively few talking-head segments with others, notably David Mamet, who has employed Jay as both actor and consultant on several films, and has directed two of his one-man shows.

The window into this barely changed culture, and just getting to watch Jay at work, even on a screen, makes the documentary by Molly Bernstein worth a look.

IMDb link

viewed 6/5/13 7:20 pm and reviewed 6/5/13