Renaissance
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DVD details
Actor: Catherine McCormack, Daniel Craig, Laura Blanc, Patrick Floersheim, Romola GaraiBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-07-24
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Miramax
DVD Reviews of Renaissance
DVD Review: Renaissance Movie Review
Summary: 3 Stars
Initially the stunningly creative visual style of Christian Volckman's Renaissance will both enthrall and engage the viewer (or annoy depending on one's tolerance for stark contrasts), but underneath lies a slick noir thriller that complements the extraordinary visuals, though its deliberate pacing may provoke a style-over-substance impression that's hard to shake until the climax fits the puzzle pieces together.
The year is 2054 and Paris is a network of futuristic corporate empires, towering buildings, and a labyrinthine underworld. But while technology has advanced, so too has the organized criminal threat, and for troubled cop Karas (voiced by Daniel Craig) each night brings a new dangerous mission to ebb the ever-increasing flow of villainy. His latest assignment finds him searching for the missing geneticist Ilona (Romala Garai) - an undertaking that will pit him against the deceptive Avalon Corporation, high-tech thugs and gangsters, and a mysterious conspiracy to cover up a devastating discovery.
The style of Renaissance is easily its most innovative feature and it provides a visual experience unlike any else. Searing black and white graphics sprawl across the screen, instantly recalling the rotoscoped works of Linklater's Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, though a more careful examination will reveal a style far more complex. Rather than just animating over live action, the creators of Renaissance decided to take their experiment a step further. First the scenes were filmed with real actors, and then their movements were recorded using motion-capture equipment. CG character models were then mapped onto the actors' motions and finally everything was placed into CG environments and shaded with the film's unique grayless black and white look. This almost overly complicated approach simultaneously helps and hinders the narrative.
Inconsistent in its overall appearance, Renaissance at times resembles a comic book, a video game, and an E-surance commercial. The spectacular visual style of Sin City might also initially come to mind, but the differences quickly surface with the realization that there is only black and white and no softer tones in-between. This stark contrast can be jarringly abrasive with close-ups and heavy action, yet amazingly detailed and beautiful with steady pans and establishing environment shots. Faces are given much less attention in shading and line work and fast-moving action sequences suffer from the confusion caused by the vagaries of the monochromatic scheme. Framing and camera angles certainly benefit from the freedom inherent with such ample CG usage and the noir mood is emphasized by the feeling of constant night. Though the aesthetic appeal will vary from person to person, the style does lend itself to a continually fresh and interesting look, and the art designs create a believably futuristic setting reminiscent of Minority Report and Blade Runner. Such style helps to counteract the rather slow build of the story, which may find you at the very end before fully appreciating its twisting subtleties.
Few carefully crafted futuristic sci-fi noir thrillers emerge each year, and while Renaissance's story borrows from the best it still manages to add its own unique signature to the mix, not to mention the innovative animated visuals that instantly set it apart from the rest of its genre. A solid voice cast balances out the sometimes cliché dialogue, but the sci-fi tinged mystery will keep you guessing until the very end - which isn't always as fun as it sounds, but following the charismatic antihero's journey to the truth is worth the wait.
Chances are you will know within a few minutes whether or not you're going to like Renaissance. Either the kinetic visuals will cause instant awe or rapid annoyance. The story is fully realized, cleverly conceived, and combines plot elements from sci-fi's best with the darkest of film noir, and paired with revolutionary CG effects, the result is a futuristic mystery of massive technical originality. However, just because we've never seen a story look like this, doesn't mean we've never seen the story before. But that impressive visual style sure helps.
- Joel Massie
Description of Renaissance
RENAISSANCE is a breakthrough sci-fi thriller for a new millennium. Dare to enter a bold vision of the future in the tradition of BLADE RUNNER and SIN CITY - drenched with state-of-the art animation and a gripping story. It's 2054 Paris and the city lives in the shadow of corporate giant Avalon which sells the irresistible promise of "ageless beauty." The sudden kidnapping of a gifted young scientist draws a tough-as-nails cop into a twisted underworld of corporate espionage genetic research and organized crime. Featuring the stellar voice talents of Daniel Craig (CASINO ROYALE) Jonathan Pryce (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Trilogy) and Ian Holm (THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy).System Requirements:Running Time: 105 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. Rating: R UPC: 786936724776 Manufacturer No: 05345200Style trumps substance in Renaissance, a 2006 French film whose breathtaking visuals largely overcome its shortcomings in the areas of story and character development. Detailed in a lengthy and absorbing "making of" featurette, the film's look is a combination of CG animation, motion capture, and a palette consisting solely of black & white (there are a few splashes of color late in the proceedings, but no gray whatsoever). And while it has a few obvious antecedents (the filmmakers readily acknowledge the influence of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, not to mention the much earlier, Expressionist work of Fritz Lang and Orson Welles), Renaissance, with its commingling of heavily processed live action and graphic novel sensibilities, looks very little like anything you've ever seen before. The setting is Paris in the year 2054, and it is here that director Christian Volckman and his crew do their best work. The French capital is certainly recognizable (the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre's Sacre Coeur are two familiar landmarks), but its classic architecture is glazed with all manner of futuristic touches, from vast glass penthouses to layers of transparent walkways outside Notre Dame Cathedral; and with the preponderance of the action taking place at night, frequently in the rain, the City of Light more often suggests a very literal representation of film noir. As for the story, it's nothing special. Hard-nosed police Captain Barthélémy Karas (voiced in this English version by Daniel Craig) is searching for a female scientist who works for Avalon, one of those sinister mega-corporations that seem to run everything in movies like this; seems the woman, who has been kidnapped, possesses what's referred to as "the protocol for immortality," and Avalon, which promises good health, beauty, and long life for all, desperately wants her back. The characters are a bit stiff (physically and otherwise), the dialogue is occasion! ally stilted, and the film is sometimes so dark that it's hard! to tell what's going on. But most of Renaissance looks so amazing that such deficiencies can easily be ignored, at least the first time through. --Sam Graham
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