After years master magician Shawn Farquhar had been plying the trade he started to look into the history of playing cards and he discovered that hidden in plain sight was the story of a murder specifically of the King of Hearts (King Charles).
Bright breezy and a great deal of fun, LOST IN THE SHUFFLE is a film that is going to make you wonder what else is hiding in plain site and you never recognized. The whole thing is set in motion when Farquhar is told some facts about the design of playing cards that he never knew. The fact that he didn’t know about the history of playing cards and their designs despite spending his whole life manipulating them came as a shock to him and it sends him scurrying down the rabbit hole to know more. And based on the interviews in the film, many magicians didn’t know the history of cards either. (Honestly I think probably the only magicians I’ve ever run across who would know the history would be Teller and Ricky Jay)
While the journey through the history of cards is good, what sets the film apart from other films is the presentation. Farquhar is constantly performing tricks as we go and it makes us lean in farther than we would have had this been a “typical” doc. Additionally his patter about the history and the tricks is first rate and I’m glad he’s a good guy because he could probably sell us tanker trucks of snake oil and make up happy about it.
While this may not be the heaviest documentary you’ll see this year, it just may be the the most entertaining.
Highly recommended
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