A deck of cards is a regular item to many of us, something to guide us through our interactions with others- at parties, on dates, or if we’re just feeling competitive. To magician, Shawn Farquhar, and his colleagues, it’s a tool to infuse some wonder into the world. Their slights of hand, plots, storytelling, and showmanship leave the rest of us believing in something more than what we see, even if just for a moment.
But the cards hold even deeper meaning for Shawn. He’s found a mystery that points to the death of a French monarch hidden in the suits and embarks on a journey through Europe to present the story of the cards to the world.
Lost In The Shuffle follows Shawn as he prepares for his show at Chateau d’Amboise, the birth and deathplace of who he believes is the subject of the cards, King Charles VIII of France. Through his travels, we meet various other magicians who are at the top of their game and who Shawn gleans from to curate the show. Director Jon Ornoy is intentional about letting us behind the curtain to see how the proverbial sausage gets made; these creators of wonder talking through the ethos of their favourite magic plots.
‘Wonder’ is the word that I left the documentary with, especially as Shawn reveals that knowing how magic tricks work actually makes him a skeptic. I was intrigued about what it was like being a skeptic tasked with creating wonder for others, and the consensus from my conversation with Ornoy and Farquhar was that skepticism leads to curiosity, which is in turn keeps us in search for that wonder. The filmmakers of Lost In The Shuffle remind us to look for the magic in our mundane.
Lost in the Shuffle is playing at HotDocs ’24. For more information, click here.
