Skip to main content

Movie Review: Incognito

    Hey, everyone. It's a privilege to talk about a movie that deserves 6 stars out of a possible 5. That movie is called Incognito. It is on Encore movie channel this month. I saw it years ago but I watched it again this evening.
     This movie stars Jason Patric as Harry Donovan, an art forger. No, that is not quite right. He is a master painter in his own right and the best forger on Earth. The actor is superb, as are all the actors in this film, which always proclaims great direction. Harry is commissioned by some powerful and unscrupulous people from the art world to forge a painting. Harry is to be paid $500,000 for the painting, which will net 5 million on the black market or 50 million at auction. Harry accepts the commission and chooses to paint a Rembrant. The depth of the movie as it relates to the devices used to forge a Dutch Masters painting is amazing. His search for lead that had to be hundreds of years old, the stealthy theft of residues from an existing Rembrandt, in order to get the exact pigments needed, many other fine points of this show make it exquisite.
     The plot is rather intricate, with some surprises, especially at the end. Harry's relationship with Marieke Van Den Broeck, an art professor and critic, complicates things when Harry is framed for murder, and for theft of his own painting. We see both the beauty and the seedy underbelly of the art world.
     Harry's father and teacher is played wonderfully by Rod Steiger and their relationship is a huge part of the plot. Marieke is played by Irene Jacob and she is superb as an actress and stunning in all that makes a woman... a woman.
    When you really hate a villain's guts it means that actor is really good. Thomas Lockyer does a great job as Alistair Davies, art gallery owner and bad person. He frames Harry and turns the knife in the wound in many ways that I cannot reveal.
    If you are tired of action movies and romantic comedies, this one is really special. In fact, I'd call it a ...work of art.
     From the author's green retreat, I'm CE Wills.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The White Chicken Mystery

    The other night I happened to come home very late. It was the middle of the night and I was driving up a steep mountain road. Near the top I saw something white in my headlights. It was standing in the other lane, standing very still. It was a large white chicken. It was probably a rooster because I thought I could see his comb as I whizzed by at my customary pace. He never moved a muscle. This is weird, don't you think?      After a couple of days to consider this phenomenon, I have come up with some plausible answers for his bizarre behavior. 1. He was conflicted whether or not he should cross the road. 2. He was feeling cocky and decided to play chicken with the traffic. 3.He was being hen-pecked at home and had decided to end it all. 4. Someone had egged him on to do it. 5. He had just watched the movie Fantastic Four and decided to try to stop a truck the way that Ben Grimm did on the bridge. 6. He had driven himself crazy wondering if ...

Batman Lives In Washington, DC

    Hey, everyone. I just read an interesting article on Washington Post.Com by Mike Rosenwald. It was titled Who Is the Route 29 Batman? This is a true story about a guy that the cops pulled over. The guy was driving a black Lamborghini with Batman plates. There were yellow Batman symbols on the doors. They had a video from the police car that showed him being pulled over. He was wearing a Bat-suit which he said cost him $5000. His gig is that he visits sick children in area hospitals and hands out Bat-Toys and Bat-books to cheer the kids up.     His name is Lenny B. Robinson and he says that the 'B' stands for Batman. He is perfectly sane and is just a good dude trying to make a difference. He is a self-made millionaire and is currently having a duplicate of the Batmobile custom-made at a cost of $250,000.    It was a hoot, watching the cops having their pictures made with the Bat Guy. Someone asked him where Robin was and he said that the boy won...

Cake Is Better Than Swords

Hey, everyone. On Thanksgiving, we had a get-together here at The Author's Green Retreat. One lady brought a cake which I wanted to show you. It had the look of a Roman Coliseum about it. Inside it was just as decadent...and fun, as ancient Rome. When I cut it open, homemade marshmallow cream began to ooze out in several spots, running over the chocolate cake and peanut butter icing. It is best served warm so the cream is fluid. Very tasty. The same lady, and her children, are people who have played a lot of Skyrim. They gave me some pointers on the game because I am having problems with it. They taught me how to fast travel, and a ton of other things, but the main thing was the armor and clothing problem. This is a little embarrassing, but let me explain. Okay. For several weeks when I played, I would enter towns and everyone I met would comment on my nakedness. I would select a tunic and shoes, whatever, go back around people and they would say something about it. I guess I w...