Renaissance Review
by Tim Voon (winklebeck AT hotmail DOT com)December 6th, 2006
Renaissance (2006)
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 2006 Timothy Voon
3 out of 5 stars
Cast (voices): Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Romola Garai, Ian Holm, Kevork Malikyan, Jonathan Pryce
Director: Christian Volckman
'Renaissance' is part of a group of films experimenting with animation to good effect. The other movie that comes to mind is 'A Scanner Darkly'. I do admire this new generation of film makers who are willing to try to take animation to a new level.
The images of this movie are colored only in black and white, but the flow of the animation is very smooth as the characters move seamlessly on screen. The shading of dark and light is wonderful, almost as if every frame has been stenciled to great detail. There are beautiful images of Paris and some of the on foot chases above and below ground are breathtaking as are the car chases astonishingly realistic.
The movie is set in the futuristic world that is reminiscent of 'Blade Runner'. In fact the main character Detective Barthalemy Karas (Daniel Craig) is in some ways reminiscent of 'Decker'. The movie begins with the disappearance of a genetic scientist, Ilona Tasuiev, who works for 'Avalon' a mega-powerful scientific conglomerate. With the help of her sister, Bislane Tasuiev (Catherine McCormack), Barthalemy slowly unravels the mystery of her
disappearance.
The sci-fi storyline is not dissimilar to many of Philip Dick's novels about a despotic future where governments are controlled by corporations and the common man is a mere pawn in a cruel game. 'Renaissance' covers many of the questions we have about incurable illnesses, tampering with genetics, the search for longevity and immortality. However, I felt that some of the atrocities that occurred in this film lost some of its poignancy because it was animated. I wasn't as shocked or disturbed as I should have been. I should have been sitting at the edge of my seat, but ended up in a comfortable lounge instead.
Other minor issues that I have with the black/white animation is that it can be difficult to make out the main characters initially as the characters all look very similar. Once this initial hurdle is overcome, on occasion I did have problems making out what was going on especially during the night scenes in the film. These are very minor issues that did not detract from my enjoyment of the film.
There are 2 versions of 'Renaissance', one spoken in French and the other in English.
Timothy Voon
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