There aren’t a whole lot of animated feature films aimed at
an adult audience; and few of them are as enthralling or visually thrilling as Ruben
Brandt: Collector. It’s a very
arty yet quite entertaining tour de force about art and larceny, derring-do and
psychology – but mostly it’s the art, particularly Twentieth Century modern art
as well as popular cinematic art from the latter part of that century. The movie itself is drawn in a glorious panorama
of styles, paying homage to writer, director, designer Milorad Krstic’s particular
favorites, in which he aims for, using his words, “a seamless encyclopedia of
film and art, where every frame is full of well-known examples from the history
of visual arts.” As such, the picture is
both ambitious and audacious. It’s also stylish, gorgeous, daring and loads of
fun!
Krstic describes himself as a “Middle European artist”, born
in Slovenia in 1952 and for the last thirty years living and working in
Budapest, Hungary. He’s a painter himself, but perhaps better described as a multimedia
artist, working not only with the brush, but in drawing, sculpting,
photography, stage design and set design, documentary film and interactive
digital art.
In Ruben Brandt: Collector, which I’ve
got to believe is his magnum opus, he has created an animated cinematic confetti,
in the form of an elaborate heist movie fantasy, equal parts psychological thriller,
action adventure and film noir, while referencing everything from Botticelli (The Birth of Venus, c. 1484-86 ) and
Velazquez (Infanta Margarita Teresa,
1659) to Edward Hopper (Nighthawks,
1942) and Andy Warhol (Double Elvis,
1963). There are also Rene Magritte, Joe Tilson, Roy Lichtenstein, Vincent Van
Gogh, Edouard Manet and many others. Perhaps the foremost influence is Pablo
Picasso, not only referenced in individual works like Woman With A Book, but incorporated throughout in Kyrstic’s own lively,
more or less cubist animation style.
There are also numerous film references – so many and from
so many different eras and genres that a lot of them undoubtedly passed me by almost without notice, other than a general recognition of seeing something familiar: a scene, a moment, a trope, or maybe an outfit or simply a remark. The producers’ notes mention Bergman, Bunuel, Chaplin, Fellini, Kurosawa and Kubrick as examples, although I would not have been able to clearly identify which moments to attribute to which of these. On the other hand, as an example, one that I
did notice was a nice, if brief, bit borrowed from an action sequence in Deadpool (2016). And there’s a cute
appropriation of Alfred Hitchcock which many viewers will be able to spot. Anyway,
it’s fun to make the attempt.
The story is certainly not deep, but it is engagingly clever
and fast-moving enough. The title character is a renowned and very wealthy
psychotherapist, who cures his patients by enabling them to confront the root
cause of their psychological problems. But Brandt himself is plagued by terrible
nightmares in which he is menaced by characters in classic art masterpieces. Four
of his patients, thieves all, band together to help him. How? By stealing these
paintings, so that he can confront them and be cured.
They are led by Mimi, a
former Hollywood stunt artist extraordinaire with impossibly long legs, who
also happens to be a chronic kleptomaniac. She’s sort of a cross between Anne Hathaway’s
Selena Kyle in Dark Knight Rises (2012)
and Halle Berry in Catwoman (2004),
only better. And man, are she and her
team ever successful! The Louvre, the Prado, the Tate, and New York’s MOMA are
among their many targets, thirteen in all. Pretty soon, the unknown thief known
as “The Collector” becomes the most wanted international criminal ever.
Meanwhile, high-end gumshoe Mike Kowalski is hired by the insurance industry to
track down The Collector. Organized criminal cartels are also interested in
nabbing him and the attached $100 million reward. Not totally original, but certainly a plot
that can hold one’s interest.
The main thing though is that this is an inspired, visually beautiful
and beautifully intriguing film. It made me happy. If it sounds interesting to
you, don’t worry – go see it and get happy yourself. [I should add that because
it is animated, while this is a Hungarian film, virtually all of the dialogue
is dubbed in English, so no need to worry about subtitles.]
96 minutes. Rated
R (ridiculously) “for nude images [a few animated breasts and one animated tush]
and some [cartoon] violence.”
Grade: A-
Now playing in select theaters nationwide.
Click Here for a theater near you.
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