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 Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:16 pm |
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Guest
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My new year's resolution (the first time I made these things
in many years) is to stop renting DVDs altogether. Since
the demise of the only independent video store 2+ years ago,
I have rented at the chain stores, which get to have an amazing
if unsysmatic collection of non-U.S. DVDs; but it became too
tempting to rent all kinds of stuff that really isn't worth watching.
Working on my laptop and watching subtitled movies at the
same time is something of a chore after all. I've survived so
far on DVD purchases and my old, neglected collection.
I recently rewatched _Incognito_, a guilty pleasure by the
director of _Saturday Night Fever_. I didn't like Irene Jacob's
performance in it the first time, but this time around I am
enchanted by her natural and convincing work. And she is truly
ravishingly beautiful in this film. I'm sure she is in _Red_ and
_Double Life of Veronique_ too, but that's not the thing
you notice about her in those films. Of course as someone
said (I forgot who already), cinema can be so superficial ...
but in her case, Jacob is so beautiful deep down in her soul,
one can easily make excuses in her case...
With that out of the way, this is actually a very interesting
film, if very much a commercial film (one that didn't make
any money). Jason Patric plays the American bad boy
and failed artist who makes a living forging old masters
paintings, and he is contracted to forge a "lost" Rembrandt.
Double crosses and betrayals and courtroom drama ensue.
The story is total nonsense, but the actual painting scenes
and the preparation therein (finding old enough paint
pigments, roping the art "experts" to fool themselves into
thinking it is *they* who discover a Rembrandt) are truly
fascinating. There is a very interesting back story about
Patric's father (Rod Staiger, in a brief but very loud and
memorable performance); Patric would base his initial
draft of the portrait and the famous "Rembrandt's eye")
on his father's image. That touch truly humanizes this
film. Irene Jacob is the lone intuitive art expert who has
a hunch that the painting is a fraud. In the director's
commentary, (John Bedlam (sp) mentions how Jason
Patric and Irene Jacob insists on a new final scene. I've
never heard of a movie director yielding to the cast's wishes
for the final scene. Or that Jacob has such a mean streak!
Of course we all know Jason Patric is notoriously moody
and hard to work with, so he no doubt instigated the coup.
Anyway, a truly enjoyable film, better than most junk I
have rented last year for sure. |
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