Running time: 109 mins . . . .

THE Illusionist is a graceful supernatural thriller based on a short story by Steven Millhauser.

Like Christopher Nolan's The Prestige last year, it concerns a masterful magician whose sleight of hand is seen as a sinister threat. Edward Norton is Eisenheim, an illusionist whose tricks hinge on the supernatural.

As a teen, he had a romance with the aristocratic Sophie von Teschen (Jessica Biel), and he returns to fin de siecle Vienna to lure her out of the arms of Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell).

But the political establishment, led by Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti), views his magic with suspicion and won't rest until they can find out how it is done.

Neil Burger, whose previous film was Interview With The Assassin, directs with subtlety and restraint and has a few tricks up his own sleeve, conjuring up a sublime twist.

Orchestra Seats (Daniele Thompson):

C�cile De France, Val�rie Lemercier, Albert Dupontel, Claude Brasseur, Dani, Christopher Thompson.

Running time: 106 mins . .

ORCHESTRA Seats is a selfconsciously French drama about class and success - a turgid, pretentious affair that makes heavy work of the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side. It's set on the cultural Avenue Montaigne in Paris where the lives of the petite bourgeoise and haute bourgeoise interact. It follows Jessica (C�cile De France), a young woman who gets a job in a caf�. This leads her to meet a soap actress who wants to do high drama, a concert pianist who wants to stop playing for stuffy elitists and a former taxi driver turned wealthy art dealer selling everything he owns before he dies. The names of great French artists are sprinkled about like sugar, but actress Catherine Versen (Val�rie Lemercier) tells the cameoing Sydney Pollack she loved his film Taxi Driver. The real star of the show is the Eiffel Tower, which chews the scenery no less than eight times.

Freedom Writers (Richard LaGravenese):

Hilary Swank, Imelda Staunton, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Glenn.

Running time: 123 mins . .

SOMEWHERE in darkest Hollywood, an automated factory is churning out formulaic genre films like this - inspirational teacher takes unruly pupils and shows them how to listen and learn. But Freedom Writers is also part of a trickle of socially aware films from America's west coast based on true stories. They show up the racial tensions you won't see on Fox News. Freedom Writers is based on the best-selling book of Erin Gruwell, a na�ve but wellto-do English teacher at a Long Beach school torn apart by gang violence. Hilary Swank gives a charismatic performance as Gruwell, drawing broad parallels between the Holocaust, Nazi tactics and the internecine fighting that is splitting the class.

Her solution? Encouraging the disenfranchised black, latino and Cambodian pupils to channel their fear and anger into diaries.

THE Simple Life, in which two fantastically privileged bimbettes - Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie - downgraded to work their way across America is the inspiration for this superficial comedy.

Sisters Ava and Tanza (Hilary and Haylie Duff) are the heiresses of a powerful cosmetics firm. But a bad product designed by their father before he died leaves the company open to buyout from rival Anjelica Huston. The girls lose their mansion, their Mercedes and their credit cards and slum it out before realising they've been set up. Director Martha Coolides works hard to parody the helium environment of uber-wealthy celebrity socialites, while also making their ignorance comic and endearing. PL