Underplayed Gems

The Young Magician (1986)

The Young Magician poster
Original title
Cudowne dziecko
Directed by
Waldemar Dziki
Genre
comedy film
Country
Poland, Canada
Runtime
1h 33m
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 12 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A boy discovers he can move objects with his mind. He is treated as an outcast until his power becomes the only way to save his city from a military accident.

whimsicalmildhopefulfamily-friendlylight-heartedfantasticalunderdog storymodest

What happens

The Young Magician (French: Le jeune magicien; Polish: Cudowne dziecko) is a Canadian-Polish children's drama film, directed by Waldemar Dziki and released in 1987. The fourth film in the Tales for All series of children's films, the film centres on Peter Meller (Rusty Jedwab), a young boy who is initially treated as an outcast when he discovers that he possesses the ability to telekinetically move objects with his mind, but becomes a hero when his power is the only thing that can save his city from a military accident. Although the film was shot in Poland with a Polish cast of actors, and then dubbed into English and French for Canadian distribution, its setting was portrayed as Canada. Nicholas Read of the Vancouver Sun criticized this as a narrative contrivance, noting that the dialogue and costume design did not feel natural to a contemporary Canadian setting. The film received three Genie Award nominations at the 9th Genie Awards in 1988, for Best Overall Sound (Michel Charron, Jo Caron, André Gagnon, Michel Descombes), Best Sound Editing (Viateur Paiement, Serge Viau, Alain Clavier, Claude Langlois, Louise Coté) and Best Original Song (Howard Forman and Krzesimir Dębski for "When We're Together"). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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