Retina is an excellent Penguin Magic project that showcases British mentalist Looch in an hour-long DVD or instant download. On Retina, Looch focuses on different ways of peeking, presenting and revealing thought of images. A majority of the project focuses on drawing duplication as the manner of revelation. The material presented is simple, and sometimes bold, most of which experienced mentalists will no doubt be aware. For beginners, this can be considered a masterclass of peeking and presentation and is great resource for performers to see how a working pro presents his trade.
Looch teaches several different peeks using a variety of methods and gimmicks. The methods are excellently taught by Looch with attention paid to timing, handling and fine nuance. The instruction is further developed by Looch’s many demonstrations of the numerous different peeks. The camera work, audio and production on this DVD is top-notch and uses multiple camera angles with appropriate attention to the moment the extraction of the information happens. There are over the shoulder, performer point of view angles, which assists in the teaching. Some of the methods taught use a stack of business cards that can be handed out, a sealed envelope, billets, switching and an old school gambling cheating tool.
For me, the most valuable part of the DVD was watching Looch’s different mind reading performances. His nonchalance at key moments was, well, nonchalant. He is relaxed and natural when acquiring the secret information and in total control when revealing his mind reading ability. His varied method of revelation and presentation make the same effect seem very different.
Some of the methods are very easy and will require minimal practice and others will require some road testing, but all are within the reach of any performer.
One of the revelatory routines that Looch teaches is his condensed 20 questions routine where instead of guessing the thought of item in 20 questions he does it in 2. His presentation is utterly disarming and untraceable. I particularly enjoyed his muscle reading presentation of the spectator’s hidden image.
Throughout the DVD Shaun Dunn from Penguin interviews Looch and explores his thoughts about mentalism, the methods, his attraction to drawing duplication routines and various tips. Dunn elicits Looch’s thoughts on the power of mentalism and how despite the simplicity and straightforwardness of the methods, a performer’s unease with a method will result in a poor and lackluster performance.
The DVD is well organized and is enjoyable to watch. While many DVD’s have to be watched in several sittings due to the repetitive nature of the material presented, this is not the case with Retina. In fact, the hour of material flew by and I was left wanting more.
The promotional video only shows snippets of the routines in which the spectator is asked to reveal their thought of object and Looch shows them a matching drawing. What is missing from the promotional video, and which may cause some to believe that this is a cold reading DVD, is the moment when the spectator’s drawing is handed to Looch and immediately put away or covered.
This project is available on www.penguinmagic.com and although it has a list price for $30.00, it sells (as of the writing of this review) for $19.95, which is an excellent price for this high-rated project.
I recommend this project to anyone wanting a strong overview of drawing duplication mentalism.