Pun Salad

Not to be confused with the (pretty good) live-action movie with the same title from a few years back; this one's an animation. In fact it was Oscar-nominated for "Best Animation" last year, losing to Toy Story 3. It was written and directed by Sylvain Chomet, who also wrote and directed The Triplets of Belleville.

Set in the late 1950s, it's the story of "The Great Tatischeff": a stage magician in decline, finding himself playing to ever-smaller and ever-less-appreciative audiences. Even his rabbit that he—yes—pulls out of a hat is hostile, nipping at his fingers and escaping at every opportunity. The magician's wandering ways gives him a venue in a remote Scottish village, where a young girl, Alice, sees him as an escape route to the outside world. Alice and Tatischeff become non-romantically linked, and have many adventures in the big city (Edinburgh).

Subtitles are available, but they're hardly necessary: I can't remember seeing a modern movie with less dialogue. The movie is adapted from a screenplay by the French comedian Jacques Tati and the magician is clearly based on him, even down to physical resemblance and mannerisms. (Tatischeff was Tati's actual name.)

It's a bittersweet and beautiful-looking movie with a lot of understated, gentle humor. It's not as wacky as The Triplets of Belleville, but if you liked that, you'll probably like this, and vice versa.