Renaissance - Visual Pleasure
I recently purchased Blade Runner as the older version I had seems to have disappeared. Along with that, I also got Renaissance and I must say that I’m glad I bought it. Everything in the movie was very well done, from the storyline to the animation.
Renaissance is set in Paris in the year 2054. The story revolves around the kidnapping of a gifted researcher by the name of Ilona Tasuiev where the main protagonist, Barthelemy Karas, is an officer of the police taskforce Section K. He is very good at his job and thus is assigned to find Ilona who is an employee of Avalon, a huge company specializing in beauty products. In his quest to find Ilona he meets her sister, Bislane, as well as other figures that were prominent in Ilona’s life. Everyone seems to have a secret to hide. Will Karas find Ilona before it’s too late? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out.
And watching it is a visual treat. While the movie is in a black and white style, the characters and environments are digital 3D models. The characters incorporate motion capturing and move realistically. Paris itself is a beauty. To support the population growth in 2054, new homes are built on top of older structures, with glass being a prominent building component for not only visual appeal in the movie but also in a realistic sense to allow sunlight to filter through to the older buildings. Also, Paris has expanded underground too. Obviously, space is a commodity, which is futher reinforced with architecture being built in every available space (like the 71 dance club being built under a bridge). All of this is in beautiful detail in spite of (or in light of?) the movie being in black and white.
Renaissance does well in following the Blade Runner style, while simultaneously making its own distinct mark in the Cyberpunk genre.
Great movie. Little disappointed by the size of the character’s heads though. They seemed just slightly off, which made the characters seem like cartoons.
December 22, 2007 at 11:31 pmI got done watching the movie again this afternoon and you’re right. A lot of the characters seem to have slightly larger heads. Seems to be mainly the male characters or my eyes aren’t picking up the nuances on the female ones like Bislane.
I’m still trying to figure out the ending. Is it real, or just Karas hallucinating? The fade to black (err… white) then next scene just seems to surreal. Reminds me of Brazil.
December 22, 2007 at 11:50 pm