( Log Out / A man says, “Marriage is an unnatural state.” A reference is made to artwork of a “pornographic nature.” There's plenty of material for an exploration of the ethical complications of life in an occupied country, something that deeply troubles Piller at home and at work. – A man stands against a pole and facing a firing squad in a town square; several soldiers with rifles take aim and shoot the man while people watch (we see this a couple of times and one time blood sprays when the man is struck). Three men run through passageways in a prison and are chased by other men with guns, and they take a truck and speed away, crashing through a gate. – Nazis, World War II, Han van Meegeren, Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, redemption, justice, forgery, credibility, intuition, fascism, adultery, espionage, forgiveness, art criticism, fame, resistance movement, truth, jealousy. It is only in the course of his interrogation of van Meegeren that he discovers the truth. Starring: Guy Pearce, Claes Bang, Vicky Krieps, Roland Møller, Rating: R for some language, violence and nudity. When I reviewed Welles’s movie in 2007, I read Irving’s book for background. A man says, “Marriage is an unnatural state.” A reference is made to artwork of a “pornographic nature.” A painting is shown in a courtroom and it looks like a number of bodies but it is hard to discern detail. A man with a gun cocks it and stands next to another man threateningly, as another man questions him. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements. A man is put in a jail cell and told that he may have no visitors when he is uncooperative in an investigation of art theft. Given the unfair dismissal of transgender identity from J.K Rowling and some even on the left, this film is a compelling argument for accepting people on their own terms. Was Goring merely a fan of Dutch Golden Age painting, or was he competitive with Hitler? A man starts a fight in a courtroom to distract attention while another man splashes a liquid on a valuable painting. Become a member of our premium site for just $2/month & access advance reviews, without any ads, not a single one, ever. Men stand in line for work. We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits. – Women wearing revealing lingerie dance and caress men at a party (cleavage, bare abdomens and legs are seen and breasts are seen through sheer fabric); one woman seems to be topless under an open robe and a man kisses her bare abdomen (we see part of her bare breast). John Paul Getty is supposed to be the richest man in the world, but in a given year, if he wanted to, Picasso could make more money than Getty. The character is based on Julian Schnabel. Ting, who is also a Julliard trained bass player, was the first doctor to join the department, mostly as a result of being the only one on staff willing to take a chance on performing surgical procedures generally shunned by his colleagues. A woman sees her husband talking to another woman and she thinks they seem flirtatious. But even with a few courtroom theatrics and some profound ethical issues to chew on, "The Last Vermeer" is ultimately a dreadfully milquetoast outing. A man talks about his father beating him for painting when he was a child. In passing, Dr. Ting reflects on the tragedy of 44 percent of all such people attempting suicide at one point or another in their lives. var znscr = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; Just go to our search page or use the search bar, with or without a keyword, from the top navigation menu. You can help us keep our independence with a donation. Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review. Basically Irving argues, in sympathy with the outlook of his subject, that it was market demand that assured De Hory’s success, just as the publishing industry would salivate a few years later over the prospects of a blockbuster Howard Hughes autobiography. – A man smokes a cigarette and drinks a glass of whiskey, a man finishes another man’s whiskey as they leave a room, a man drinks from a flask and spits it out, people smoke and drink at a party, a man drinks from a bottle of liquor in a few scenes, a man makes a comment about “hooch,” a man describes parties during the war where there was free booze and free drugs and easy women, a reference is made to a man having a drinking problem, people drink in a bar, several people drink cognac, people drink champagne in a couple of scenes, and people drink at a party. In reality, it would be no joke as the plight of Dr. Ting’s patients make so clear. The true story of Dutch artist Han van Meegeren is a wild one. Opening today at Film Forum’s Virtual Cinema, “Born to Be” profiles Dr. Jess Ting of Mount Sinai’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery (CTMS). TrackBack URI. Did you know you can now filter searches by any combination of ratings? Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. We welcome suggestions & criticisms -- and we will accept compliments too. Almost a cinéma vérité, it follows Ting, a Chinese-American, on his daily rounds meeting with or performing surgery on a number of his patients. – About 2 F-words, 2 scatological terms, 2 anatomical terms, 2 mild obscenities, 1 derogatory term for Germans, name-calling (wicked, bluster, convenient justice, boy scouts, insane, swindler, relentless, stammering fool, honorary Nazi, traitor, opportunist, narcissist, devil, undeserving, evil, agnostic, apathetic, jumped up spiff, creep, criminal haircut, rotten artist, lecherous drunk, crusaders), 3 religious profanities (GD). As for the other two films about the art market that the great Claes Bang stars in, you can rent “Burnt Orange Heresy” on Amazon or from AMC. What gives the film its edge is the artist’s ambivalent character. In May 1945, he was arrested for collaboration, specifically for having sold a purported Vermeer, “Christ and the Adulteress,” to Goering for the equivalent of $7 million in current dollars. RSS feed for comments on this post. Change ). zergnet.type = 'text/javascript'; zergnet.async = true; Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. “The Last Vermeer” is based on the actual history of a Dutchman Han van Meegeren, the greatest art swindler who ever lived. All rights reserved. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ► A husband accuses his wife of going to parties “dressed as a whore.” A man describes parties during the war, where there was free booze, free drugs and easy women. "https:" : "http:") + '//www.zergnet.com/zerg.js?id=67437'; I heard a story from [his henchman] Fernand Legros that he sent one of my Picassos to Picasso for an authentication, and Picasso, who wasn’t quite sure, asked the man who brought it, ‘How much did the dealer pay for it?’ The man mentioned a huge amount, maybe $100,000, and Picasso said, “Well, if he paid that much, it must be real.”. Dr. Ting engages easily with his patients and his compassion for them is saintly. All that text is right there on the surface, and therefore, there's barely a shred of mystery or intrigue. Nude paintings of a woman is shown in several scenes (we see bare breasts, abdomen, buttocks and pubic hair). A man threatens to break both of another man’s legs if he tries to get away. During the rocky transition from Nazi occupation after the Allied liberation of Europe and fall of Hitler in May 1945, Piller is tasked with sorting out the precious artworks seized from Nazi officers. © 2020 www.providencejournal.com. The artist swears his own innocence, but Piller imprisons him in a gallery attic while he tracks down his various other close confidants to deduce who sold what to whom. "One of the 50 Coolest Websites...they simply tell it like it is" - TIME, The current economic climate has reduced our revenues. Welles’s film deals with Clifford Irving, who penned a Howard Hughes biography out of whole cloth. ( Log Out /