When Seth Gordon directed The King of Kong, a story of two men battling for the title of master of a classic arcade game, gaming whiz Billy Mitchell came across as the moustache twirling villain to Steve Wiebe’s devoted and entirely sympathetic hero. Was the characterization entirely fair? No, but it made for an incredibly compelling and entertaining documentary. With Make Believe, the Gordon-produced documentary directed by J. Clay Tweel, the feature avoids vilifying any of its subjects while still managing to give us a great film about the battle of human wills and the admirable human desire to be the best. The fact that it’s six teenagers fighting for the title of best teen magician just makes it that much more entertaining.
The closest the film comes to vilifying any one youngster has more to do with the viewer and the type of personality they clash with. Some may find the blind optimism of Derek McKee to be naïve or the borderline egotistical self-confidence of Bill Koch to be tiring, but it’s the shared enthusiasm for the one hobby and the diversity of personalities that flock to it that gives Make Believe its own sense of wonder. And while you may come to root for one specific candidate or another, all have traits that make it reasonable to choose them as your personal favorite.
The collection of youth includes: Hara Hiroki, a Japanese magician from a fishing village who has no context for how good he actually is; Derek McKee who studies under the tutelage of two older magicians and spends every waking minute with a deck of cards; Bill Koch whom, along with his father, expects nothing short of perfection and consequently exudes a level of showmanship and pride unexpected from someone so young; Krystyn Lambert is the expected favorite who has benefitted from early exposure to some of Magic’s greats at the Magic Castle and participates in a youth association there; and the South African duo of Nkumbuzo Nkonyana & Nicholas Saint-Erne who take their cues from Vaudevillian slapstick to give their magic act a comical edge.
Make Believe manages to give its six subjects a fair amount of time and does well in its attempts to balance the talking heads between the parental figures in the lives of the would-be magicians and other seasoned pros in the industry. Magicians like Lance Burton and enthusiasts like Neil Patrick Harris pop in to add a little star power, but they never wrest the attention away from the six protagonists.
Make Believe’s subjects range in personality from the high-achieving student and leading member of a youth’s magician society in her last year as an eligible contestant to an unassuming boy from Japan who fell in love with magic courtesy of a TV special and has had no outside coaching or verification of his talent. In the hands of a less sure director, it could easily have been played as little more than another backbiting Big Brother-esque documentary where the spirit of competition instead of this tribute to the blind enthusiasm of each contestant for the hobby they’ve devoted themselves to at the expense of a normal social life. It would have been incredibly easy for Tweel to make this a tongue-in-cheek look at some kids willing to sacrifice dignity in the face of showmanship, but that’s not what happened, and the result is a documentary that might make you want to pick up a deck of cards and practice a few flourishes.
What’s most impressive about the film might be the unending support that seems to pour from their parents. If you had decided in high school that you wanted to be the world’s next top magician and you announced that to your parents, what would they have said? I think very few could claim their parents would be thrilled, never mind quite so encouraging as the parents of these kids. The support does come with a few conditions, but still it’s downright heartwarming to see such parental support for a hobby that so many others would write off as “just a phase” before they pushed their child into a more potentially rewarding pursuit.
While similar to The King of Kong in its coverage of a niche hobby, the tone of Make Believe couldn’t be more different. By making the film about the enthusiasm of six equally deserving youth pursuing a common goal instead of a lone man going up against an entrenched champion, Make Believe ditches The King of Kong’s undermining bitterness in exchange for a rewarding sense of exuberance.
"Make Believe" opens May 13, 2011 and is not rated. Documentary. Directed by J Clay Tweel. Starring Derek Mckee, Hara Hiroki, Bill Koch, Krystyn Lambert, Nkumbuzo Nkonyana, Nicholas Saint Erne.
