Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself

Name: Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself
Genre: Documentary
Released: January 22, 2021
Duration: 90 min
Rating: 82
Cast: Annamaria Sofillas, Bill Gates, Brian Henson, David Wain, DeRay Mckesson

2021

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 8 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Ratings

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7.9

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7.9	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Ratings

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In & Of Itself

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Movie Details & Credits

Hulu | Release Date (Streaming): January 22, 2021 | Not Rated

Starring: Annamaria Sofillas, Bill Gates, Brian Henson, David Wain, DeRay Mckesson, Derek DelGaudio, Larry Wilmore, Marina Abramovic, Tim Gunn

Summary: Storyteller and Conceptual Magician Derek DelGaudio attempts to understand the illusory nature of identity and answer the deceptively simple question 'Who am I?'

Director: Frank Oz

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 90 min

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Critic Reviews

Matt Fowler

Jan 30, 2021

Derek DelGaudio's In and Of Itself is a beautiful, powerful performance that employs art, illusion, storytelling, and its own audience to explore aspects of identity, isolation, and our own desperate drive to figure out who we are as individuals. There's nothing quite like it, which, as goes the uniqueness of humanity, is the point. Read full review

Elisabeth Vincentelli

Jan 24, 2021

In & Of Itself reframes familiar tropes like card tricks, vanishing objects and stupendous feats of mentalism to new ends. It is not often that a magic show makes you ponder not just the how, but the why. Read full review

Brian Lowry

Jan 24, 2021

In bringing In & Of Itself to the screen, director Frank Oz (yes, the former Muppet master and filmmaker, who directed the theatrical version as well) has heightened the impact of DelGaudio's material by rapidly inter-cutting exchanges with audience members across a number of shows. Read full review

David Fear

Jan 24, 2021

It’s the kind of alchemy achieved when an artist has his or her vision brought to a larger audience by someone who understands exactly what they’re doing. It’s a testament to the power of the material and the determination of its interpreters to not dilute it one ounce. Read full review

Peter Debruge

Jan 24, 2021

Not all the tricks translate, nor do they need to, since DelGaudio has shrewdly constructed the experience around the theme of identity, revealing deeply personal elements of his own history in such a way as to prime audiences to look inward as well. The result is a kind of epiphany that leaves them with a feeling of discovery rather than deception. Read full review

Helen Shaw

Jan 24, 2021

Sadly, DelGaudio’s showmanship doesn’t always translate to its new medium — now you feel it, now you don’t. But DelGaudio’s oddly yearning text still has power on TV. He hides thorns among the card tricks, prickly questions about identity that don’t disappear with the next shuffle. Read full review

John DeFore

Jan 24, 2021

As much a confessional one-man play as a showcase for tricks, it's a magic show in the way a Hannah Gadsby monologue is stand-up comedy: a work capable of winning over those who normally don't pay much attention to the genre, and certain to leave some in the audience much more moved than they're prepared for. Read full review

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User Reviews

Glaleau

Jan 15, 2022

So anyone that may have posted a negative rating, I understand. This is the point of this piece of art. We as humans are known to find the flaws in others, ignore the one's in ourselves, and of course fight the differences we all have. Naturally, a card trick or illusion can be broken downSo anyone that may have posted a negative rating, I understand. This is the point of this piece of art. We as humans are known to find the flaws in others, ignore the one's in ourselves, and of course fight the differences we all have. Naturally, a card trick or illusion can be broken down and eventually explained. A plot in a movie can be filled with holes and you know the end before the film is over. So I guess for me, the true joy of this performance, is the unknown. The absolute pleasure of the continual question "Who Am I?" I would encourage anyone of you that have posted a negative rating to In & Of Itself, to watch it once again, not with your eyes, but with your heart and soul. This isn't about a sappy magician telling stories about what WE don't understand about HIS life, it's about taking the time to keep questioning your own life. Reflection, sadness, fear, loneliness, happiness, and the eminent death. So take time to be the dog, instead if the wolf. Don't pass such harsh judgment, unless the mirror you look in causes you to do so. Open up, learn, and heal.… Expand