The Magician: two-paragraph review

L-R: Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, Ben Walker as Tony Richards

[WARNING: spoilers.]

2005's The Magician stars a very young-looking Scott Ryan as Ray Shoesmith, a hitman for hire, who is being documented by a young filmmaker named Max Totti (Massimiliano Andrighetto). Ray and Max have agreed, for legal reasons, not to release the documentary until after Ray has died, death being highly likely given Ray's line of work. The documentary depicts Ray's interactions with people, showing how Ray uses violence when necessary to persuade people to give up stolen possessions, or how Ray shoots a friend who owes money to gangsters and has failed to skip town permanently. Ray justifies the killing (a sudden shot to the back of the head) by noting that the gangsters would have made his friend suffer. Ray talks about his ex-wife, his daughter, and his boss Freddy (whom we never see). He talks about army life and being discharged for having "a bit of a problem" with a superior officer. He claims that legalizing drugs would defang the drug trade and reduce crime in Australia by 75%. The final part of the documentary is devoted to how Freddie deals with a guy named Tony, who owes Ray's boss Freddy a ton of money. Tony claims he's got $80,000 in cash stashed across the country, so Ray, Tony, and Max drive a long distance to a farm and root around inside an old barn. The "cash" turns out to be a half-kilo of cocaine, which Tony claims is worth at least $100,000. The question then becomes whether Ray will pop Tony after taking the cocaine. The documentary ends with Ray in a city, walking away and disappearing into a distant crowd, and a title card says Ray was shot dead five months later.

Having now seen The Magician, I can say that the Ray Shoesmith we meet in Mr Inbetween is definitely a rebooted version of the original character. But The Magician is also clearly the creative foundation for Mr Inbetween: there's a lot of the same cynical humor, violence, and desolate amorality. What I found more interesting is what I discovered in watching some interviews and reading further trivia about these two productions and about Scott Ryan. Ryan is not a trained actor; he made the original "mockumentary" for only A$3,000, and the only role in his filmography is the character of Ray Shoesmith, an invention of his crafted after talking with various people in the criminal underworld. Ryan aimed for plausible realism, joking in one interview that he didn't want criminals watching the series and scoffing that the plot was unrealistic. Part of Ryan's film was aired at the St. Kilda Film Festival in 2004, where it caught the attention of stuntman/filmmaker Nash Edgerton, who volunteered to edit the film into something deserving of wider release in 2005. The improved film made a small splash, and Scott Ryan despaired of anything bigger happening in his life. Years passed. According to Ryan, it was Edgerton who kept the flame alive; eventually, Mr Inbetween came to be as a series, based on The Magician but fleshing out Ray Shoesmith's story and the people around him. I watched Mr Inbetween first, then watched The Magician, which affected how I appreciate both works, but whatever order you choose to see the productions in, I can guarantee you'll enjoy them both if you're into crime dramedies.