Almost all of my favorite documentaries are in some way or another about odd subcultures (American Movie, King of Kong, Anvil, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Spellbound), and what’s an odder subculture than magicians?  Make Believe (via FilmSchoolRejects) is a documentary about teen magicians.  It’s all the awkwardness of being a teenager combined with the awkwardness of magicians, which is enough awkwardness to spawn a thousand Birdemic remakes.  Make Believe was executive produced by King of Kong director Seth Gordon and directed by Kong assistant editor (a much bigger job on a doc than it is on a narrative feature) J. Clay Tweel.  Yes, J. Clay Tweel. I can’t say whether that was his birth name or if he changed it to sound more magiciany. Needless to say, this looks fantastic.

“The World Magic Seminar is… If you’re a teen, and you’re doing magic, you can’t miss it.”

“I don’t have too much friends, my friend is magic.”

“Kristin could be… the greatest lady magician that ever lived.”

THE GREATEST LADY MAGICIAN THAT EVER LIVED! That’s a bold statement, but then look at her levitate those metal rings. Anyway,Make Believe played the LA and Austin film festivals last year, and you can check it out now on Showtime or VOD, or when it opens in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles next month. The only kid I’m worried about is the one doing magic in Africa.  BE CAREFUL, DUDE. One day you’re pulling playing cards from behind peoples’ ears, the next they’re accusing you of shrinking the chief’s penis.  Unless you want people showing up at your hut with baskets of severed albino hands demanding you cure their wife’s infertility, you might want to move.  Magic is all political over there. So I hear. Of course, I get all my information about Africa from my racist uncle.

I wonder if this is how the Hip Hop Magician got his start.

Will Smith and his I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence are teaming up to produce a film about… a magician.  See also: Man-Witch, Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Mandrake the Magician, Harry Potter, The Prestige, The Illusionist...

Written by Andrew Niccol, The City That Sailed follows a New York City street magician whose daughter, because of family circumstances, lives in England. In exploring a lighthouse one day, the girl discovers a room with magic candles and wishes to be reunited with her father, causing the island of Manhattan to break away and drift across the Pond. [THR]

I’m guessing those family circumstances involve “my dad’s a f-cking street magician.”  But it looks like I was all wrong about this movie.  It’s actually not a magician movie, it’s a kid-makes-wish-that-comes-true-in-order-to-repair-relationship-with-father movie.  My gosh, I wonder why no one‘s ever thought of that before.  Hold on, I think I have an idea for the next family comedy: a fetish porn star switches bodies with the family dog.  Danny Masterson, Richard Karn, and Lana Wachowski star in Ruff Trade.