Renaissance

In the near future in a Paris, France, made of Plexiglas, aerodynamic steel beams, and rainslicked surfaces, a sinister plot unfolds: it's one honest cop (voiced by Daniel Craig) against an evil... In the near future in a Paris, France, made of Plexiglas, aerodynamic steel beams, and rainslicked surfaces, a sinister plot unfolds: it's one honest cop (voiced by Daniel Craig) against an evil corporatocracy, corrupt scientists, and the mob, as he uses his wits and grit to rescue a brilliant, beautiful female geneticist who has been kidnapped. What he learns on his rescue mission challenges his most hard-boiled preconceptions about who's really running things.

Christian Volckman's first feature film is rendered in astonishing black-and-white "motion capture" animation that continually yields inventive and subtle visual surprises--car chases take on cosmic proportions, cigarette smoke engulfs an entire room like a lovely wraith, and the already beautiful Parisian skyline becomes a dizzying, jeweled spectacle.

A descendent of classic science-fiction tech-noir like BLADERUNNER, Volckman's film envisions the near future as a cold and heartless place where corporations are supreme and surface beauty is everything; whole scenes are constructed from reflections in nighttime windows, mirrors, and other shiny expanses, and false (but pretty) facades are created to confuse and imprison characters. This constant emphasis on empty, backwards images supports Volckman's seeming disgust with society's preoccupation with youthful beauty (and the multibillion-dollar cosmetic industries that keep us hooked), although his own film is relentlessly gorgeous.