Shorts : Three Quarters (2016)
Slowly, I’m coming around to Mubi. Time is a precious commodity for me these days, so the rotating schedule protocol that Mubi uses means I tend to miss out on a lot of their content. One thing I try to pay attention to, however, are their Director retrospective series, and recently, there’s been a focus on Kevin Jerome Everson. Short films do not seem to be a normal thing on Mubi, so when Everson’s Three Quarters popped up on the list, my long-standing love for magic immediately drew me to it.
Three close up magic tricks are presented in an intimate and silent presentation. Randy Shine cuts and shuffles a deck of cards, pulls four Aces, presents four quarters that he places in the four corners of his surface, covers the quarters with the aces, and proceeds to move all four quarters beneath one card through sleight of hand. Donald E. Camp unspools a length of string, separates the length into four distinct pieces, rolls the four pieces into a tiny ball with trailing ends, and after blowing on this, returns it to a single piece of string. Randy Shine then presents three quarters in his hand and proceeds to transfer them in midair between hands, while also making them seemingly disappear and reappear at will.
The world of magic, though probably not by choice, seems to be nearly completely devoid of minorities, at least on a level where any modicum of fame is achieved. To see a piece focus on two African-American magicians is unique and refreshing, and to have those two magicians represent two different generations is also worthy of noting, as it shows a continuation and (hopeful) growth in terms of minority involvement in that culture.
Silence goes a long way in this short, as a big aspect of a magician’s performance tends to rely on distraction via personality. With the long, silent takes on the trick, the viewer lacks any distraction, and this wholly direct focus on the tricks makes the fact that one cannot decipher how they were done hit that much harder. Add to this the confidence of Donald E. Camp, and the playful tone of Randy Shine, both of which permeate without a word or sound present, and their masterful abilities are instantly recognizable.
Randy Shine has a flare with is handwork that brings a magnetic energy to his tricks. He enacts traditional techniques, but he is so precise with them that he allows himself to open his hands more than the average magician would, almost like he both letting you in on and concealing the trick at the same time. The fact that his execution is so clean really drives home how skilled he is. Donald E. Camp, in contrast, seems much more reserved and confident in his abilities, and his performance reflects that of someone who’s done a trick so many times that it’s a natural progression of events for them. His presentation, setup and execution all have a precise rhythm to the steps, making his reveal feel like the culmination of a song or short story.
Most films about magic either rely on special effects or focus so much on character that the focus on the tricks can be lost. Three Quarters is refreshing in the way that it makes the tricks the star of the show while making sure that the performers leave an impression as well.
