Harry Donovan is an art forger who paints fake Rembrandt picture for $500,000. The girl he meets & gets into bed with in Paris, Marieke turns out to be an arts expert. Harry's clients are using to check the counterfeit picture he painted. I knew this was going going to be a class A film but it does give a good the peek into the world of Art, Art History & Art Forgery. Anyone who considers themselves curious about Rembr&t, his place in the art world, & the art world's place in history will enjoy this movie. There are some interesting moments in this film, particularly for those who love art. The movie is actually much more complicated that the short summary I have provided. Jordan Katz's screenplay is full of authoritative, fascinating facts about how art is variously made, copied, authenticated & exposed as fake. 'Incognito' could serve as a handy tool for teaching courses in the detection of art forgery. Directed by John Badham, a Hollywood hack with a decent commercial track record (Saturday Night Fever, Short Circuit, War Games, Stakeout) Jason Patrick is really good in his role Patric is believable in his role as a suffering artist & skillfully shifts from unlikable to sympathetic. ; Irene Jacob is also good as his girlfriend (she is known for her films with Krzysztof Kieslowski) Rod Steiger plays a small role but still has the staying power of the great actor we know. The romance with Jacobs, who plays, Marieke van den Broeck, reminds us of a "39 Steps" Hitchcock kind of way. The European locales (Dutch, Spanish,Parisian) are very much like paintings & the director & cinematographer did a good job here. Too bad the DVD transfer was so poor. The film is well-directed. I found the DVD transfer poor & grainy etc. I guess in 1997 transfers were not as good as now. The movie looked pretty poor on my big screen HDTV. I think this film had limited release fared poorly & was sent right to DVD. Really I don't know why as it really a pretty acceptable thriller.
Review of Incognito
