A Bumbling Magician Finds His Stride in This Charming, Peculiar Short Film From Ray-Ban

Meet Loudini. He's a sad sack illusionist who can't even pull a rabbit out of a hat. But even after the world's worst day, he stays at it, dumping the excess glitter out of his shoes and getting back out on stage—because it's who he is, and it's what he does. That's the basic premise of a new video from Ray-Ban Films, part of the eyewear brand's #ItTakesCourage campaign, which has also seen the brand make people stare into each other's eyes for four minutes, hoping to spark … something. In the six-minute Loudini clip, written and directed by Conor Byrne of Hungry Man, the struggling protagonist, played by Henry Zebrowski, bombs his regular gig at a senior citizens center—a junky role to begin with—by managing to produce only a stuffed bunny ear (as opposed to the whole animal) from his formal headgear. Out in the parking lot, in the midst of discovering his car won't start, he gets fired from the job altogether. A few blocks away, while waiting for the bus, he finds himself charmed by a nearby busker who is strumming an acoustic guitar and singing a song about working hard to build something—a tune actually composed for the video by indie rock band Car Seat Headrest, whose frontman, Will Toledo, plays the street musician. Loudini gives Toledo a giant trick coin, before turning to walk a while, while bits of shiny metallic dust pour ridiculously from the legs of his pants. He finally makes it home—where he keeps, naturally, his Houdini shrine—but there, his girlfriend has finally had it with his signature Loudini cape and giant bag full of obnoxious "illusion dust" (seriously, that stuff must get everywhere, and be impossible to clean up). She appears to leave him—or at the very least, be moving fast in that direction. Nonetheless, he's determined not to give up. He digs around and finds the one-eared remainder of his stuffed rabbit, which has somehow found itself wedged behind a filing cabinet. He dusts himself off, tidies his tuxedo and bow tie, and takes off, full of vim, for his next appearance at a boy's birthday party. There, he finds a fresh obstacle in the brat-of-honor, who apparently wanted a clown for this year's entertainment. "Well, I'm no clown," Loudini says, as if he's not quite convinced himself. "Sorry, kid," he adds, before walking away. But—spoiler alert—right before he clears the front yard, he stops, and removes his top hat, and after a beat, lands the rabbit trick. The kid's skeptical face warms, and he concedes, inviting Loudini into the house. The chorus of the full-band version of the Car Room Headrest song—"Does It Feel Good (to Say Goodbye?)"—kicks in under a super of the title. The story is over, and the credits begin to roll. Only after they're done, does the tagline appear—in case you forgot what it was, "#ItTakesCourage." Overall, the film is beautifully produced, if a bit long-winded, and difficult to decipher—more art than advertising. Perhaps to Ray-Ban's credit, or perhaps to the detriment of its purpose, there aren't any of its iconic shades to be seen in the video. And while a couple of characters, including Toledo's, are wearing eyeglasses, there's nothing to obviously indicate they're the brand's models. In fact, it's not entirely clear what the brand's purpose is, other than the bankrolling of creativity, and the encouragement of personal passion, which are not ignoble pursuits, or entirely inconsistent with an overall image that includes historical positions like "Never Hide" and more recent campaigns like "Do You" (wherein a stream of diverse faces are literally half-replaced by various Ray-Ban frames, arguably the exact opposite of the minimal-product, minimal-branding approach on display here). The Google search meta description for the Ray-Ban Films webpage, meanwhile, describes it as a "collection of unique and entertaining videos that symbolize the cool and relaxed spirit of [the Ray-Ban] community." There, visitors will also find various bits of content, like reality-style videos of electronic music producer Kerri Chandler putting together an acoustic ensemble to play one of his songs in a cathedral, or young couples trying to reconcile after breaking up. In other words, in this latest work from the brand's marketing studio, viewers are left to more or less intuit the point, whether or not they're familiar with the Ray-Ban's values. The point, in all likelihood, is simply to be entertained—and there have certainly been worse attempts to do that. Just take, for example, Loudini's magic tricks. CREDITS Written & Directed by Conor Byrne Produced by Tyler Byrne Featuring Car Seat Headrest performing "Does it Feel Good?" Lou - Henry Zebrowski Sandy - Allyn Rachel Doug - Robert Lee Birthday Billy - Jakob Verweij Executive Producer - Kevin Byrne Director of Photography - Adam Newport-Berra Production Designer - Michael Krantz Editor - Craig Deardorff Original Score by - Fall on Your Sword Costume Designer - Chrissy Morton Casting by - Kathy Knowles Co-Executive Producer - David Laub Creative Agency - Yours Truly Creative Creative Directors - Babak Khoshnoud & Will Abramson Agency Producer - Francesca Orrach 1st Assistant Director - Jimmy Ramirez 2nd Assistant Director - Tasha Tacosa Production Manager - Alanna Dillon Production Coordinator - Amanda Cordes Asst. Production Coordinator - Kenneth Culver Gaffer - Felipe Solarez Best Boy Electric - Patrick Hubbard Electric - Dave Vi Han Key Grip - Conrad Wendland Best Boy Grip - Tyler Johnson-Williams Grips -Ringo Betancourt, Brody Culbertson 1st AC - Scott Michael Johnson 2nd AC - Artur Gubin DIT - Derrick Cohan Set Decorator - Christian Corio On Set Dresser - Kevin Dwyer Swing Gang - Caleb Dawson, Chris Newell Assistant Set Decorator - Steve Kiratsous Art Department Coordinator - Tara Walker Arts & Crafts - Analise Hellman Glitter Ring Maker - Rich Sandomeno Painter - Gregg Gibbs Production Sound Mixer - Chuck Fitzpatrick Boom Operator - Richard Geerts Script Supervisor - Brett Hamann Hair & Makeup Artist - Marisa Ramirez Location Manager - Rusty Tinder Magic Consultants - Greg Wilson, Chris Mitchell Production Assistants: Julia Bennett Eric Crawford Asia Gold David Johnson Deeter Lota Ed Weathers Editorial - Cosmo Street Assistant Editor - Quincey Martin-Chapman Post Sr. Prodcuer - Luiza Naritomi Executive Post Producer - Maura Woodward Sound Post Production by - Heard City Re-Recording Mixer - Cory Melious Color Services by - The Mill Colorist - Mikey Rossiter Color Producer - Natalie Westerfield Finishing by - Switch FX Flame Artist - Jon Magel Elderly Hecklers: Hal Alpert Shelly Desai Gwen Van Dam Luis Accinelli Jackie Benoit Steven Shaw Mel Agcaoili Eve Sigall Ed Ford Howard Fong Dee Fitzgerald Early Whitesides Sherry Larson Carol Black Wow, Thanks: Mom & Dad Maca Uncle Jerry Hungry Man Jeanine Basinger Steve Collins Adam Paulsen Zach Kaplan Rachel Rusch Brandon Coulter Dave Bernstein Caleb Dewart Ed Flores Wiggles Ron Seidel Kristin Chiappetta Erin Byrne Sarah Dooley Andrew Gladstone Augustin Vita Rupert Pupkin A Brudder Film

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A Bumbling Magician Finds His Stride in This Charming, Peculiar Short Film From Ray-Ban

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Gabriel Beltrone

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Gabriel Beltrone