‘Illusionist’ marketing needs some magic

Conjuring a 2006 audience for The Illusionist, a romantic thriller about magic set in turn-of-the-20th-century Vienna, may require more sleight of hand than its marketers can muster. The trick will be to make arthouse gripes (that the movie is too commercial) disappear while pulling mainstream crowds from its period hat. Selling points include hypnotic performances by Edward Norton, who plays the title’s con, and Paul Giamatti as the chief inspector out to bust his act.