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Magic Magic will leave you feeling disconcerted. Whether or not that is what you want to get out of a film, the journey this movie takes you on is not a necessarily pleasant one. Juno Temple plays the visibly fragile Alicia – an American student visiting her cousins friends in isolated Chile. When her cousin is pulled out of the equation by a mysterious, and somewhat under-developed subplot – Alicia is left well and truly outside her comfort zone. Temple’s portrayal of the frenetic Alicia is not exactly enrapturing or endearing; however she effectively translates Alicia’s confusion and manic vulnerability which drives the plot. Michael Cera remains a laughable casting decision as the whitest white Canadian playing a Chilean. Cera’s performance is however, one of the most entertaining of his career – a wonderfully creepy diplomats son – inexplicably named Brink, who provides most of the films tension by his mere presence on screen. Perhaps his characters bizarre Canadian/Chilean accent and colouring ads to Brinks, and the films, desynchronicity.

Magic Magic plays beautifully with its genre, and is another testament to the talent trailer making has come to in the industry – as well as how much a trailer affects ones viewing of a film. The trailer and the beginning of the movie are equally misleading as to the intended antagonists, having the viewers sympathy ricocheting back and forth, and effectively leaving the viewer feeling displaced with no safe footing. For psychological thriller fans, no doubt this offers some level of catharsis. For the rest of us, Magic Magic comes off slightly tiresome at times, with the story offering few – if any reliefs from the tension, leaving one uncomfortable and almost out of sorts from start to finish. Most relief comes from secondary characters Barbára and Augustín; purely however as these characters don’t have much character to offer; one is caught between the off the wall weirdness of Brink and Alicia and the total boring realism from straightmen Augustín and Barbára. In another film, a straight drama perhaps, interested in exploring these two’s lives, Augustín Silva and Catalina Sandino Moreno’s performances would have been deemed totally acceptable. Magic Magic however, could have survived the removal of both these characters to no ill effect. While it is interesting to note the effect of two oddballs bouncing off each other, it would have been nice to have the film offer some more rounded performances.

Taken individually, even if forced to peek between one’s fingers to get the better of the tension, there’s no denying Magic Magic is something of a feast for the eyes. Beautiful lingering shots of Chilean wilderness and sumptuous (if somewhat restrictive) use of darkness are put to great effect in creating the isolation and cramped quarters our story takes place in. For this, the wonderfully creepy performances of Cera and Turner and the worthwhile exploration of loneliness and paranoia, Magic Magic is certainly a very good film.