This is a beautiful film for those who can appreciate the odd light it casts. The camera work is fascinating and rich. The acting may seem arch to some and the plot obscure, but this film is certainly not boring. The focus on the intimate connection to the Vermeers in New York is a priceless exercise in the relationship between looking and seeing. Perhaps Jost's vision is rarified in some sense, or too slow and precise, but there is a wonderful and strange sort of redemptive illumination that permeates the whole movie. In many ways it is a better film for viewing at home where the intimacy of the mis en scene can be appreciated, and where one can look at certain scenes over and over. I think those who take the time to look carefully will savor this film.
... View MoreIf you are a fan of independent and innovative filmmaking, this movie is for you. It's visuals are tremendous in their composition, movement, colors, etc. It's sense of editing and story progression is involving and thought provoking. This is the kind of movie that makes you forget traditional narrative expectations of "what will happen next?" or questions like "what is going on?" and instead prompts you to just experience, perceive, and feel the film. A must-see for anyone interested in non-traditional filmmaking and for anyone interested in a beautiful movie.
... View MoreIn this review I reveal why the movie is entitled "All The Vermeers In New York". I don't think knowing this spoils the film, though.People's expectations of a film reflect a lot about them. A lot of people expect to be moved watching a film when the music swells. They expect to get excited when the shots are cut faster. This film allows you to get excited or moved about what's going on because of what is happening to the _people_, not the camera or the music. Films that cut the "crap" of "high-quality" production values and concentrate on character and story show how our ordinary lives achieve a cool, plausable if brief potentiality for soaring.This film works on this premise, and that's why I love it. It's really a fairly wrenching story that gets told by the people, not as much by the camera and soundtrack (although the shooting and music are brilliantly understated). I identified very closely with the high-powered New York currency trader who couldn't live with himself unless he could come to the museum to gaze at the Vermeer portraits. It allows him to cross the threshold of his own limited life staring at a stock-ticker into a world of pure love, desire and ultimately, hope.To Jost, nothing seems ordinary, unalive. He is the Van Gogh of film makers. If he made a film about pebbles in the gutter, it would be worth watching.
... View MoreThe slowest, emptiest and most boring picture I remember. Just a series of static shots, people talking about nothing, expendable characters (what do we care about the so-called singer that bothers her rommmates?), and artistic pretensions. The climax is supposed to be tragic, but is uncalled for and practically comic for unexpected, improbable and clearly just a way to finish a picture that threatened to be eternal.
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