I've been waiting for this one to come to Richmond ever since I saw the previews a few months ago, and a rainy afternoon was the perfect time to sit in an almost-empty movie theater. Here is a description of the 90 minute documentary from the website:
"Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer ("Girl with a Pearl Earring") manage to paint so photo-realistically -- 150 years before the invention of photography? The epic research project Jenison embarks on to test his theory is as extraordinary as what he discovers. Spanning eight years, Jenison's adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney, and even to Buckingham Palace to see a Vermeer masterpiece in the collection of the Queen."
This was a great movie if you like solving mysteries and watching people explore their passions. Tim is a man of incredible self discipline and equal parts curiosity and imagination. He needed all three to complete his mission.
If you like art and technology, you will enjoy this film, and as artist Davis Hockney says in the movie, "Nowadays we think of the two fields separately but it doesn't have to be and shouldn't."
