{"id":11596,"date":"2015-03-06T15:45:56","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T20:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=11596"},"modified":"2015-03-06T15:45:56","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T20:45:56","slug":"an-honest-liar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=11596","title":{"rendered":"An Honest Liar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today a documentary about the life of Randall James Hamilton Zwinge released into theaters. You may know Zwinge better as James Randi or The Amazing Randi. Upon reflection, a documentary about Randi is long overdue. However, after watching the film \u201cAn Honest Liar\u201d any documentary released prior to this one would have been woefully lacking. Filmmakers Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom managed through goodwill and happenstance to be on hand to capture real truth from a master magician, thus a master of diversion and manipulation. Or as Randi says, \u201cin other words, bullshit.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAn Honest Liar\u201d could easily have been twice as long. We\u2019re talking about a subject who at the age of 17 years-old ran off to join a carnival, and who now at over 80 years-old has never sat still. The film briefly touches on Randi\u2019s childhood, then dives into his successful career as escape artist\/magician The Amazing Randi, and we see how that segues into his career as professional skeptic. If you find that Randi\u2019s arc follows in broad strokes the life of Harry Houdini, you\u2019re not the only one who finds that parallel. The coincidence is brought up by magician and skeptic alike throughout the film.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s odd that I never knew Randi as The Amazing Randi. I always knew it was part of his background, but until \u201cAn Honest Liar\u201d I never saw him escape a straightjacket, a pair of handcuffs, or even a length of rope. To see him so young and roguish, for me, it was like being introduced to a stranger. Then thanks to some excellent archival footage and interview legwork I got to bear witness to stuff that to me was almost legend: Randi vs Uri Gellar, Randi vs Peter Popoff, and Project Alpha, as well as other investigations from that era. Finally the film gets to the only James Randi I\u2019ve really ever known. Long white hair, long white beard. The consummate skeptic, proud atheist, and founder of James Randi Educational Foundation (amongst many other things). He has a keen intellect and a razor sharp wit.<\/p>\n

Then, due to a strange twist of fate, a deception that had been lying dormant in Randi\u2019s life being revealed, I come face to face with a James Randi I\u2019m not entirely comfortable with. Gone is the man who is certain of how the world works and who brushes things that disagree with him off with aplomb. In those few moments I am face to face with the fully realized human being that is James Randi. <\/p>\n

Weinstein and Meason captured a master escape artist from every angle with \u201cAn Honest Liar\u201d. If you get a chance to see it, do so.<\/p>\n