La rebelle et la magicienne

Ignore the negative reviews. This is well-acted and intimate coming-of-age film about a 13 year old girl's journey of love, loss and forgiveness. If you're in the mood for something slower paced but quirky, this is for you. Miya Cech and Rhea have real chemistry in their scenes together. It's a nice anecdote to the sometimes cynical age we live in!

The 2021 comedy "Marvelous and the Black Hole" from writer and director Kate Tsang was a movie that fully and wholly managed to elude my radar. And it wasn't before now in 2022, as I stumbled upon it by sheer random chance that I came to know about it.

I didn't have any expectations to the movie, but I will say that the movie's cover, despite of its simplicity, had some appeal to me, and it was what drew me to initially pick up the movie.

The storyline told in "Marvelous and the Black Hole", as written by Kate Tsang, was actually a good storyline in my opinion. But I do think that this is not actually a movie that will easily and overly find a base with just everyone in the audience, as it can be somewhat of an acquired taste.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and it was actually nice to see Rhea Perlman on the screen. I don't think I've actually seen her on the screen since "Cheers". Now, I wasn't familiar with Miya Cech, but she really put on a memorable performance. The movie had a good cast ensemble, with mostly unfamiliar faces and names to me, and that is something I enjoy in movies.

If you enjoy quirky comedies that doesn't just offer the usual run-of-the-mill-and-straight-from-the-blueprint-of-how-to-make-a-successful-comedy, then give "Marvelous and the Black Hole" a chance. I did, and I was genuinely entertained by the storyline.

However, while it was a good movie, then I don't think that "Marvelous and the Black Hole" is a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time, simply because the storyline doesn't have enough layers to facilitate and support more than a single viewing.

My rating of writer and director Kate Tsang's 2021 comedy "Marvelous and the Black Hole" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Mrs. Shullivan and I really enjoyed this story line about the family dynamics that evolves around a teenage girl named Sammy (Miya Cech) who recently lost her mother. Sammy is being raised by her hard working widower father Angus (Leonardo Nam) and the responsibility of monitoring what the troubled teen Sammy is doing is relegated to her older sister Patricia (Kannon). Sammy's father is trying to move on with his life after losing his wife and the mother of his two (2) daughters six (6) months earlier so he has developed a serious relationship with a new female companion that his two (2) daughters expressive faces reflect their disapproval of.

Sammy is taking the loss of her mother, and her fathers new female companion with a rebellious attitude that lands her in her fathers dog house. Sammy is told to attend a small business school and if she refuses her fathers initial direction he has threatened to send her away to a disciplinary summer camp for challenging teens.

As troubled teens with a bad attitude go, Sammy was lucky enough to accidentally meet up with a quirky middle aged female magician who enjoys doing magic shows for children. We the audience see a gradual change in Sammy's bad behaviour as she grows to like spending time with Margot the Magician (Rhea Perlman) and her focus on the negative gradually transitions into a focus on learning magic.

But the real magic is the transition between Sammy and her family including Angus's female companion Marianne (Paulina Lule) as she realizes through the relationship she has developed with Margot the magician that acceptance of her mothers death is not the end of the world but the beginning of a new life and new way of family living.

This is a heart warming story of family and (new) friends relationships, and the magic is the story and the entire cast's performances. I give this under rated film a superb 9 out of 10 IMDb rating.

Quite a waste calling this film predictable. Like calling James Bond films 'predictable.' The ensemble cast did a great job in this small budget film that examines one teen's grief based destructive path angst. Then, to our viewer delight we have the arrival of Rhea Perlman the 'magician' and the real star of the film Sebastian the rabbit. The look and feel of a well made low budget indie film with a big dose of feel good angst resolution!

Forget the old showbiz adage about never working with kids or animals. For this charming little film, veteran performer Rhea Perlman forms a perfect team with rubber-faced newcomer (and future star) Miya Cech. The end result is a coming of age story that holds the attention.