The Amazing Johnathan on magic and mortality

New documentary The Amazing Johnathan is an exercise in faith. As a viewer, can you really trust a magician who says he’s dying? And can filmmaker Ben Berman really trust his subject, the titular Amazing Johnathan, if that subject is known for being great at deception? Those are some of the questions tackled in the documentary, which ultimately ends up subverting the form in a really interesting way. The A.V. Club recently sat down with Berman and John “The Amazing Johnathan” Szeles at Los Angeles’ Magic Castle, where we talked addiction, death, and that ever-present question of trust.

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