a delicacy of honor, which is sensitive to shame.a hasty temper, which can be provoked by insults.recklessness, which leads to destruction.Producers are Ryan Friedkin, Danny Friedkin and Bradley Thomas.ĭo you plan to see The Last Vermeer? Let us know what you think.There are five dangerous faults which may affect a general: Check out my video review with scenes from the film at the link above. It debuted at the 2019 Telluride Film Festival under the title Lyrebird but finally will hit whichever theaters are open. The Tristar movie opens in theaters on Friday. This is a film well worth seeing, and a story at long last being told on a scale it deserves. Clearly the mentorship was there as the production looks far more expensive than what it actually cost to make, including a splendid reproduction of Amsterdam circa 1947 (Arthur Max was production designer), as well as expert cinematography from Remy Adefarasin. Scott, in fact, joins him here as an executive producer. Friedkin is making his directing debut but is no stranger to movies, having produced a long line of them including the Clint Eastwood hit The Mule and Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World. Bang (The Square, Burnt Orange Heresy) is excellent, and so is Krieps (The Phantom Thread). Pearce might have the role of his life here and plays it for all its worth. August Diehl ( A Hidden Life) is among the fine supporting cast. Debuting feature director Dan Friedkin is too smart to let it play on outwardly predictable levels, and is blessed to have an international cast of the first rank go at the material. It’s a development that puts him at odds with authorities but one that will serve his conscience.īased on Jonathan Lopez’s book, The Man Who Made Vermeers, this truly is a smart cinematic adaptation (James McGee and Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby are the scripters) that gains its greatest strength from not turning into a pedestrian and typical courtroom showdown. Enormously helpful here is Minna (Vicky Krieps), who has the unique ability to see past the obvious and perhaps provide important pathways for Piller to explore another side of things. Van Meegeren is a complex and interesting man, one who lives the high life until it all comes crashing down, but was he even more devious than anyone could possibly be? Was he responsible for more than one crime - or any crime, depending on who you are talking to? The trick to Pearce’s portrayal is that we are also asking those questions. Yet, as the story progresses, his own inner conflicts reflect those of his country as the questions about Van Meegeren (Australian star Guy Pearce) start outweighing the easy answers. Piller (Danish actor Claes Bang) is a straightforward kind of man, not one prone to heavy dramatics and who largely sees the world in simple tones of black or white. With three fascinating characters at its center, this is riveting stuff - a WWII-era story that incredibly has not been told before on film, and you have to wonder why.
These are the questions at the heart of the plot of The Last Vermeer, a compelling drama set in and out of the courtroom that ultimately asks, fake or not: What is the true value of art? It also puts our own moral convictions front and center and suggests not everything the eye sees might be the full truth of it all.