The Magic Life

The Magic Life follows three aspiring magicians as they pull off the biggest trick of their lives by turning their passion into a profession.

We are taken into the lives of Yang Yang (17), Matthew Falk (25), and Michael Friedland (32). Each with their own unique story have three very different out comes.

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Michael Friedland

Age :: 32, Yonkers New York

Michael and his family own a real estate company. This is where Micheal works every single day of his life. Gregory Greenberg from Saturday Night Live got him interested in card tricks and magic as a profession. As a kid his grandmother would take him to the magic shop and buy him props and little tricks to play with, and every time, she would say,

Enjoy darling, but promise me you’ll never do this for a living.

Finally Michael decided he was going magic his life long career. He moved to Las Angles, California which is considered to be the “Magic Capital of the World“. He set a goal for himself, to perform at The Magic Castle. As he began studying he discovered a magician with incredible talent, Richard Turner. Richard Turner is a very famous card handler, not to mention Turner is also blind. Richard revealed his secrets telling us that all you need to do to become a professional in the magic world is practice.

You can’t compare yourself to the guy at the magic shop, you need to compare yourself to the best in the industry. ~ Richard Turner

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With the news of his girlfriend being pregnant Michael traveled back to New York to let his family know the good news. After sharing the good new Michael received some of his own! He was invited to perform at The Magic Castle. After six long months of practicing he was ready to perform. He did an excellent job at The Magic Castle, with card magic routine.

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Yang Yang

Age :: 17, Tianjin China

Yang started his magic career in 2009. His mother unlike others were very supportive of his magic. She got him a magic trainer, this is when Yang’s career took off. Just after his training started Yang entered in the IBM magic competition in China and took the gold metal. After winning he teamed up with Juliana Chen, a famous female magician in China, also the first woman to win the World Championship of magic. She told Yang,

When you walk onto the stage you are no longer Yang Yang, you become a big magician!

Once in California Yang was enrolled into the Chavez Magic School. He will learn and follow the art of Dale Salwak.

Dale gave yang numours lectures and tips through out his jurney at the shcool including this,

Practicing is a way of life, you have to love to practice to become a great magician!

Just months later Yang got a spot at The Magic Castle. He performed his already mastered stage show for over 1,000 people. Shortly after his performance Yang graduated the Chavez Magic School. Now that he graduated he heads to Tennessee. There he performed with the Chinese circus for 4-6 months. Dales final advice for Yang was,

You can’t rush art, it takes time and dedication to make art, especially magic.

We say bye to Yang Yang in Tennessee where his magic act with the circus couldn’t be going any better than it already is.

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Matthew Noah Falk

Age :: 25, Hollywood, California

Matthew Falk is a street performer. His father first showed him magic and that’s when he fell in love. Unfortunately it was a car accident that jump started this magicians career. The horrible car accident left him with two things. A month resting and a settlement check. He used the month off to practice, learn and master close-up magic. Once the settlement check came he used most of it to buy magic props and supplies. So, Matthew took his magic to the streets. He set up a table and his magic gear on Hollywood Blvd. Matthew performed for tips, on a good day he would make himself $50, the bad days we won’t talk about.

As he was slowly running out of money Matthew began producing and filming his own magic DVD to sell on the streets. With his bank account down to about $600 he decided to do an escape on the Blvd. So with a real straight jacket him and his friends took it to the streets. The thing about Hollywood Blvd. is there are 100 other people looking for attention, Falk’s straight jacket escape was not only unsuccessful no one was around to see it.

As a final attempt to make it in the world Matthew moved out of his apartment and moved back in with his father. Matthew Falk had this to say,

People are raised with a dream, but that’s not reality.

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So, I didn’t tell you what happens with these three magicians, you can watch the movie to see the out come. Overall the movie was very well done. It hit a lot of strong points when it comes to magicians now a days. Every one struggles to make their own dreams come true not just magicians. With a lot of magicians struggling to get their parents approval, making money and getting their name known, any magician can relate to the movie. I’ve watched it twice now and will give the movie a 100% thumbs up. If you haven’t seen the trailer for The Magic Life check it below and check back for the full film release.

Special thanks goes to Eric Kokonas for sending me the movie and allowing me to write this review. His words will be the final ones,

Sometimes the risk pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t.

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