Renaissance - 4th September 2006

I hadn't heard much about this film except it was a French black-and-white animated futuristic film noir. As genres go this one seems fairly niche although it managed to be incredibly original and yet somehow reassuring.

First of all to the film noir part: Renaissance was a brilliant example of the genre; the plot was well timed and had all the necessary ingredients - dark and brooding cop (excellently voiced by Daniel Craig), femme fatale, shadowy corporation, a selection of underworld characters and enough plot twists, car chases and gun fights to keep the viewer interested.

One of the most wonderful things in film noir is the use of chiascuro and the medium of monochrome animation was absolutely perfect - the director could choose exactly what to light up and what to keep in shadow, it really was amazing how effective the black and white was.

Using this wonderful medium the director was able to create a futuristic vision of Paris about 50 years hence. There were of course nods to Metropolis and Blade Runner but this city managed to remain unique. Its multi-layered criss-crossing railtracks provided the perfect noir shadows and the view of a Montmartre swamped with buildings was breath-taking. In fact, the 'locations' were possible the best part of the film. From the imposing offices of uber-corporation Avalon to the baths belonging to the gangland boss to the white-light forest prison, every new location was astounding.

The film also boasts probably the best car chase I've seen all year: a high-speed take-no-prisoners chase through the roads of this futuristic Paris, although I think Citroen can't have done badly out of it... The fight scenes were also magnificent, particularly the surreal slo-mo shoot-out on the rooftop arboretum.

Finally, as a France/Luxembourg/UK (although I believe mainly French) co-production, it was strange to see all the future Parisians speaking English. A further aspect of this nightmarish future dystopia was that the French language had been all but wiped out. Subtle allusions were made to this dead language (the remains of an advert, a copy of Le Monde 2006) but no explanation was given.

This film was, as far as I can say, unique. Each frame was fascinating and it managed to live-up to and surpass all the expectations of its varied genres. 8.5