Directing: A-
Writing: B+
Cinematography: B+
Editing: A
Special Effects: A

“We are al the unreliable narrators of each other’s stories,” says magician Derek DelGaudio, in his stage show In & of Itself, previously seen in 560 live performances Off Broadway, and seen in a skillfully edited recording of these shows on Hulu as of this weekend. This line had an immediately profound impact on me, and I suspect I will remember it for a long time to come, if not for the rest of my life.

And that is the greatest trick of this show, really, in that being a magician, Delgaudio’s entire presentation hinges on illusion, in the literal sense: one might even call it deception. And yet, he uses these tricks to elicit some of the most emotionally honest reactions I have ever seen on film, or in live theater for that matter. What a strange dichotomy. In retrospect, it leaves one to wonder about the degree our emotions have been entirely manipulated. But I would be lying if I said I was not deeply moved by this show.

It’s easy to be suspicious. I spent a significant amount of time watching this and thinking, How the fuck is he doing that? And the same thought is clearly moving through the minds in the audience. When I say people are quite justifiably awestruck by what Delgaudio is doing, I don’t mean that in the typical sense of illusionist or magic shows. This isn’t just straightforward magic tricks. DelGaudio’s entire show is flexing under the weight of its many heavy metaphors, challenging viewers to reexamine the very definition of identity, how they see themselves, and how they see others.

Honestly, the less you know about this show going in, the better. I have never seen any show, or movie, with a more apropos title, it is so very much its own thing. (Side note: if you go searching for it on Hulu, his name is included in the full title, so it’s best searched first with a D rather than an I: Derek DelGaudio’s In & of Itself.) Regardless, how well it works will be entirely dependent on how open you are to what DelGaudio is offering. I must admit, after seeing many people in the audience get very emotional, some of them crying, at one point even DelGaudio cries a little. And in that particular moment, I found myself thinking about those 560 performances, many of which are partially featured in this film. Did he cry every single time? To what degree is that just another performance?

Might it have been DelGaudio’s very intention to have some of us asking ourselves such questions?

And trust me when I say, some of the stuff in In & of Itself is literally jaw-dropping. It’s hard to imagine the emotional intensity that must have filled the room for the people there in person. This filmed version is directed by the legendary Frank Oz, who chooses to include brief but quite memorable clips of famous people who happened to be in the audience, also deeply emotionally affected, like Tim Gunn or Bill Gates. The makeup of the audience is a key part of this documentary filmed version of the show, with a succession of different people from different nights chosen for the same task, edited together. This provides an unforgettable picture of DelGaudio’s uniformity of effect.

It’s hard to recommend a film like this without giving too much away. But, the less detail revealed, the more it sounds like just another magic show. It really couldn’t be further from that. Or could it? Perhaps this is just another magician after all, and the degree to which we convince ourselves otherwise is the greatest illusion of all. To that I say: so what? It’s stunningly impressive either way.

*Nothing you see here prepares you in any way for what you are in for.*

Overall: A-