Filmmaker Szász poses three riddles to the viewer in only thirty minutes including what’s wrong with this scene? And then there are three more posed to us, but three that will basically give away what this has to offer. Almost in the manner of Shyamalan, Szász starts the film on a soft note and then builds for a rather surprising albeit predictable climax that worked in the end, and that’s due to the rather excellent performances throughout the short film. Szász’s film is a solid utterly wrenching supernatural drama that tests not only the audience, but the perceptions of our views into grief, and isolation after grief.
Can isolation be healthy for you? We can never be sure, but we know it’s had a significant effect on the couple here. And we wonder, and decipher, and we wait for the pay off, and Szász’s delivery worked because he can truly alleviate the drama with the taut tension. Mom stays home to talk on the phone and shoos away her son, while Dad returns from the lab. He’s just come a step closer to perfecting a chemical that can make people invisible, and he’s triumphant in his own mind. When he returns, suddenly their son disappears, and Szász unveils the mystery at hand. What happened to him?
And then, like an onion, Szász slowly unravels the film’s meaning, and the message of moving on and learning to be alone leaves an after taste that many viewers will relate to. Szász’s own passion for colors becomes his downfall, and when “Now You See Me” should be focusing on story progression, there we are looking at silent montage upon montage of imagery that’s supposed to mean something, but eventually we tend to lose patient. “Now You See Me” relies too heavily on symbolism and silent imagery, thus we’re left wondering where it’s all going. Not in the way that we’re filled with anticipation, but more in the anxious impatient urgency just waiting for the pay off to come already.
And while Szász’s own skill is evident, his experience in directing commercials becomes much too resonant in the message of the story. Constantly, we’re subjected to close-ups, and wide shots that could easily have a product logo fade on-screen, and we wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Szász can never really draw away from the imagery of an advertisement, thus the film could never feel enough like a thriller. In spite of relying much too heavily on symbolism and montages, “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t,” is a well paced, wonderfully directed, heart wrenching supernatural drama with great performances and a sad message.