Director: Jon Ornoy
Cast: Shawn Farquhar, Juan Tamariz, Alexandra Duvivier, Michael Vincent, Richard Turner
Screenplay: Jon Ornoy
100 mins. Not Rated.

When I was a child, I loved magic. I wanted to be a magician. I loved the idea of enrapturing an audience with something to wow them. I feel like Shawn Farquhar, the focus of the new documentary Lost in the Shuffle, is the kind of magician I’d have wanted to become. It’s been decades since my dream to be a magician ended, but seeing Lost in the Shuffle reminded of that magic once again.

The documentary, directed by Jon Ornoy, follows Farquhar as he attempts to uncover a possible mystery hidden within a standard deck of playing cards. When he discovers a few oddities on the face cards, he believes he’s found the answer to the unsolved murder of a French king. As he looks at the history of playing cards and sleight-of-hand, he preps for the most elaborate sleight-of-hand performance of his career.

Lost in the Shuffle is a film of three distinct parts: the history of playing cards, the relationship between magicians and playing cards, and the unsolved murder, all culminating in Farquhar’s card trick. Within these distinct parts are three interesting elements (my favorite being the insane Da Vinci Code element of the murder mystery within a deck of cards), even if they don’t exactly marry in the way Ornoy intends. The history of playing cards hit my nerd nerves in the right way and fascinated me, and the various interviews with famous card-using magicians gave me some different perspectives on the unique symbiosis between a magician and their deck.

As stated, I don’t think these elements come together in the intended way, and occasionally the narrative shifted away from one interesting element to another in a way that slowed the momentum down. When Lost in the Shuffle is focused on one of its three elements instead of jumping around so much, it’s an absolute treat.

Lost in the Shuffle was a delight for fans of magicians, sleight-of-hand, or just strange histories of items in our popular culture. If those types of docs aren’t really your thing, then I don’t think the film will sway you, but it hit me the right way and I was there for the journey.

3/5
-Kyle A. Goethe