Posts tagged drama
“Tim’s Vermeer” Fascinating
Mar 19th
“Fascinating”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
TIM’S VERMEER is an absolutely fascinating documentary of how Tim Jenison went to all the time, trouble, and expense of investigating and eventually reproducing one of the works of art of 17th-century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.
Vermeer was not widely appreciated in his own time, and authorities have proclaimed that he painted only between 30 and 35 works, but also that he was one of the greatest painters of all time because of his microscopic observation of objects and meticulous depiction of gradation of daylight on varied shapes and surfaces.
His paintings show details and perspectives found in photographs, and Jenison believes that Vermeer could have used a camera obscura to make his paintings, which is Latin for “dark chamber” and is a darkened enclosure with a pinhole on one side through which light enters to form an image of the outside objects on the opposite surface.
Jenison asks, “How did Vermeer do it?” and decides that he is going to paint a Vermeer even though it seems impossible and Jenison is not a painter, but is an inventor.
So, Jenison went around the world to study Vermeer’s paintings, which he says was a “revelation,” and he realized that Vermeer could have used a small mirror to paint his pictures, which allowed him to match colors perfectly.
Jenison demonstrates his theory to Martin Mull, an entertainer and artist in his own right, and Mull is impressed with what Jenison demonstrates.
Then Jenison decides to reproduce a painting by Vermeer called “The Music Lesson,” which is owned by Queen Elizabeth in England, saying that the process is objective and any painter who uses it would get the same result.
He built the room in the painting himself in 213 working days in a warehouse and says that he wasn’t trying to make the painting look like a Vermeer, but it was looking like a Vermeer.
We see Jenison at work day by day, and he says that the project is a lot like watching paint dry, which implies that it is boring, but watching this documentary is anything but boring.
At one point Jenison was ready to quit, but because a film was being made, he completed the painting.
TIM’S VERMEER, written and narrated by Penn Jillette, directed by partner Teller, is magic to watch.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Tim’s Vermeer – Movie Trailer
Mar 18th
Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, (Video Toaster, LightWave, TriCaster) attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) manage to paint so photo-realistically – 150 years before the invention of photography? The epic research project Jenison embarks on to test his theory is as extraordinary as what he discovers. Spanning a decade, Jenison’s adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney and eventually to Buckingham Palace, to see the Queen’s Vermeer.
“Labor Day” Soft Spot in Your Heart
Feb 19th
“Soft Spot in Your Heart”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
LABOR DAY is based on the novel by Joyce Maynard, who was involved with reclusive author J. D. Salinger, and adapted and directed by Jason Reitman, whose previous movies have been comedies.
This movie is not a comedy.
The time is 1987 in a small town in New England, and we meet Adele, a divorced mother played by Kate Winslet, and her son Henry, who is 13 years old.
Henry narrates the story, but his voice is that of Tobey Maguire, who plays Henry as an adult at the end of the movie.
Henry makes the curious comment that his father believes that Adele is getting worse, and Henry says that he could feel his mother’s loneliness before he had a name for it.
Adele and Henry leave their house only once a month to go shopping, and we see them go to a store, where a man, Frank, played by Josh Brolin, approaches Henry and asks for his help.
Frank has blood on his stomach, his leg is hurting, and he asks for a ride. When they get into the car and Adele asks Frank where to, he answers, “Your house, just for a few moments to rest my leg.”
Frank says that he hurt his leg jumping out of a window, and he asks to stay with them until nightfall, when he will leave.
Then they learn that Frank is an escaped prisoner, where he was serving 18 years for murder, but he says that it didn’t happen the way it is being reported.
Frank ties Adele to a chair so that after he is gone, she can’t be accused of helping him, and then he prepares dinner and feeds her.
The next day is Friday, but because it is the Labor Day weekend, Frank is disappointed to learn that there will be no trains coming by, on which he planned to catch a ride.
So, Frank fixes their car, washes and waxes the floors in the house, and even teaches Henry how to throw a baseball.
As the weekend goes on, the relationship among the three gets more complicated, and we learn more about Adele’s condition through flashbacks, which make her more sympathetic.
Frank continues to show a more softer side, too.
LABOR DAY can easily find a soft spot in your heart, as well.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
