Magic Magic (2013 film)

Magic Magic is a 2013 Chilean-American psychological thriller film written and directed by Sebastián Silva. The film, which premiered on January 22, 2013 at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival,^[2] stars Juno Temple, Emily Browning, Michael Cera, and Catalina Sandino Moreno.^[3] It was also played at the Directors' Fortnight at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.^[4][5]
Magic Magic won the Sitges Award for Best Actress for Temple.

Plot

The film opens with shots of the island where the majority of the film's events will take place; showing the fauna and landscape until the title card. It cuts to Brink dancing and singing in Barbara's driveway until the arrival Sarah, her boyfriend Augustine and her cousin Alicia from California. Barbara (Augustine's sister) and Sarah's other friend Brink (a fellow American and the son of a diplomat) are introduced to Alicia, seemingly very reserved with this trip marking her first time out of the United States. Sarah urges the group to wait for Alicia to shower before they take the drive to the cabin where they'll spend their vacation. During her shower, Alicia overhears a conversation between Sarah and Augustine about calling someone.

During the first portion of the drive, Sarah receives a call. Sarah informs her friends that she has to return to her school in Santiago to take an exam that she cannot miss out on. Alicia is agitated, unwilling to let Sarah return on her own or remain with the group of new acquaintances. In the end, she is calmed and reassured by Sarah that she should be back in only a day. Sarah purchases a trip back and Alicia continues on the drive with Augustine, Brink and Barbara.

The group travels to pick up the caretaker's wife, Melda, to escort her along to the island. Barbara and the rest of the group urge the shy Alicia to pick the next song for the CD player. At random, she picks out Minnie the Moocher, much to the annoyance of Barbara who states that songs like that give her the creeps. The car's CD player glitches and won't allow the CD to stop playing. At the stop to find Melda, the group spots a duo of abandoned pups; one severely sick, covered in warts. Melda states to leave them; that they were abandoned for a reason. Barbara feels pity for them and they take the sick pup with them. It whines as they continue to drive and Augustine, annoyed, pushes his sister to stop to abandon the pup once again.

The group takes a motorboat to the island. On their disembark at the shore, Alicia trips, accidentally dropping one of Barbara's bags into the water. It's recovered but Barbara is severely irked. At the cabin, Alicia is escorted to one of the upstairs rooms which she'll be staying in. She sits and sighs once alone, the pressure of being around Sarah's friends getting to her. The first night, the group have an awkward dinner where the group tries to gauge Brink's interest in Alicia and vice versa. Later, as the group is lounging, Augustine reveals himself as a hypnotism hobbyist, attempting to entrance Alicia with a video of a hypnotic spiral. Alicia states that she needs her sleep and heads upstairs. She spends part of her time bemoaning her situation and attempting to gain a signal to call Sarah. She moves the head of her bed from the window of her room, from which, a cacophony of bird cawing has persisted since their arrival. She hears, Barbara in the next room increase the sound of her music and determined to not annoy her any further, crawls into bed quietly. In the boys's room, Brink loudly proclaims his boredom to a silent Augustine who is staring into a pattern to try and trance himself. Brink seems to masturbate quietly to his own thoughts, possibly of Alicia.

Unable to get a good night's sleep due to the cawing, Alicia comes down to breakfast listless. She asks if anyone has talked to Sarah which no one has, but later in the day Augustine and Brink ask her to follow them to go bird shooting with a pellet rifle. They say that they're headed to a hill where she might get reception. During their walk, Brink shoots and kills a macaw, upsetting Alicia. Alicia goes off on her own and reaches Sarah on her phone. Sarah states that she'll be staying for one more day and Alicia complains about her experiences with her friends. The reception begins to break up and Alicia hangs up exasperated. Alicia returns to the boys who are playing roller tennis and informs Augustine of the call from Sarah. The island sheepdog wanders over to Alicia. She happily pets the dog until she realizes that it is humping her leg. She recoils disgusted and Brink laughs as Augustine chases the dog away.

Alicia returns home and sits with Barbara. She seems to hallucinate that Barbara is staring at her as she reads. The boys return and the ice is broken between them and Alicia as they drink and break into an empty home later that night. They continue to drink and make merry. Later, Brink dons a fur coat and pretends to be the sheepdog from earlier. In his drunken playfulness, he annoys the two, Alicia especially, who ends up kicking him in the nose when he gets too rough. She runs away irate and sobbing and tries to call Sarah again. She gets Sarah, who slips in that she is not really in Santiago for school. The subject is dropped as Alicia tells them about the last days events. Later, she tries to recover from her frenzy alone in her room. The next day, the group is informed of Sarah's arrival. They greet each other and as they head off, Augustine and Sarah discuss the events of Santiago between themselves where it is revealed that the real reason for her disappearance was that Sarah wanted to get an abortion. Alicia escorts Sarah away from the group to talk in private where it is revealed that Sarah never actually talked to Alicia the previous night.

The group decides to cliff dive into the water later that day. Brink makes efforts to try and endear himself to Alicia during their time out. Augustine, Brink and Sarah all manage to perform the dive, yet Alicia remains, extremely fearful of the jump. In the end, she is unable to do it and the group heads back to the cabin. Another awkward dinner occurs, where Sarah states that it doesn't seem like Alicia is not doing too well due to a lack of sleep. Later in the night, after Barbara gives Alicia pills to help her sleep, the group hangs out in the living room. Augustine attempts to hypnotize Alicia again and, seemingly due to her lack of sleep, is successful. She performs the uncharacteristic tasks ordered to her by Brink including dancing to music and coming on to Augustine. Brink orders the entranced Alicia to grab a coal from the roaring fireplace. She does it but is snapped out of her trance when she burns herself. Barbara gives her some ointment to heal her hand.

After her hypnotism incident, Alicia goes to bed as Sarah leaves with Augustine to roam the island. Alicia is unable to sleep however, turning in bed to see Sarah lying next to her as Barbara is yelling something elsewhere in the house. She looks up to spot another hallucination, this time of Brink snickering at the edge of Sarah's bed. Alicia rises, tearful and extremely agitated, covering the rooms mirrors and hitting herself with a book. She puts on a facade when Barbara comes in to check on her. Later in the night, Alicia exits the home, hearing the voices of the others conversing and seemingly putting down Alicia. When she heads into the room that the conversation was coming from however, it is empty save for a sleeping Brink. While Brink sleeps, Alicia points the air rifle at him for a moment. She places it back down and drops her bottoms as Brink is roused. Alicia grabs Brink by the head and forces his face against her exposed crotch. A moment later, she releases her grip and wanders back to sleep leaving Brink shocked by the events. Elsewhere, Sarah and Augustine wander to a dog's grave where Augustine pressures her for anal sex. Sarah returns to the room, noting the strangeness of the covered mirrors.

In the morning, Brink, Sarah and Augustine return to shore from paddle boating and regroup with Alicia when they get back on land. The group roams the hills and when Brink has a moment alone with Alicia, he tries to kiss and feel her up, shocking and repulsing Alicia. Brink states that Alicia tried to force him to give her cunnilingus the previous night which she angrily denies ever occurred. Even though Sarah and Augustine attempt to calm the situation, Alicia angrily states how much she hates the others. She spots the sheepdog in the distance and tries to escape it, only for it to turn out to be a figment when the real sheepdog is seen in front of her, being walked by Melda and a young girl. Alicia breaks down in tears and the others take her to be treated by Melda.

After her burn is treated, they return to the cabin. While Brink, Sarah and Augustine hang out outside, Alicia sneaks out under cover of darkness. They go looking for her when they notice that not only has she left she's consumed all of the pills Barbara gave her to help her sleep.

Alicia has returned to the cliff face, seemingly planning to do the dive she didn't get the chance to do before. Her plans are interrupted when she spots the sheepdog barking at a sheep spooking it and causing it to fall. The group finds her at the cliff face and Sarah tearfully begs her to return. Alicia is not dissuaded however, and dives in. Recovering her, they carry her back to Melda. Alicia's delusions reach a fever pitch as the others try desperately to calm her. With no hospital within reasonable distance, Augustine retrieves the car and helps drive the group to the island's only healer. The healer begins her ritual; an ancient one that involves the body of a lamb and ritualistic music and parading. Alicia is calm as the ceremony persists. Sarah and Augustine panic as it seems like Alicia has died on the table. Melda and the healer assure that they need to finish the ceremony; that Alicia's soul is only out of her body for purification.

The film ends with the group on the motorboat heading for the mainland, all tearful, Sarah and Augustine desperately rubbing her body and attempting to wake her. The final line is from Sarah, begging Alicia to "come back" through her sobbing. The sound of the boat's motor continues to run within the credits.

Cast

• Juno Temple as Alicia, a Californian and Sarah's cousin
• Emily Browning as Sarah, cousin to Alicia and a student living in Chile
• Michael Cera as Brink, Augustine's flamboyant schoolmate and friend
• Catalina Sandino Moreno as Barbara, Augustine's older sister
• Agustín Silva as Augustine, Sarah's boyfriend

Reception

According to Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of critics have given the film positive reviews, based on 36 reviews.^[6]

See Also

• Cinema of Chile

References

External links

• Official website
• Magic Magic at the Internet Movie Database
• Magic Magic at Rotten Tomatoes
• Magic Magic on Twitter