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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.

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