This black and white animated film strives to move into territory occupied by Blade Runner. It’s a project that certainly has an interesting style all its own.
What the back of the box says:
The sudden kidnapping of a gifted young scientist draws a tough-as-nails cop into a twisted underworld of corporate espionage, genetic research and organized crime. Featuring the stellar voice talents of Daniel Craig (Casino Royale), Jonathan Pryce (Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogy) and Ian Holm (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy).”
Renaissance is an animated French science fiction film that is all about style. The film is animated completely in black and white with only a very few instances of color. The film was created with a combination of animation and live motion capture. Originally made for French audiences, the powers that be decided to revoice the film with a bevy of English stars to make it more palatable for international audiences (thankfully they do include the original French audio for those that want to hear the original).
Daniel Craig, Ian Holm, and Jonathan Pryce were brought in to voice characters. The story concerns the kidnapping of a young female scientist and the tough cop (bet you can’t guess who Daniel Craig provides the voice for can you?) who is assigned to find out who kidnapped her.
However, his investigations lead him to a greater conspiracy involving the Avalon Corporation. This company seemingly promises to reverse the aging process with their technology. As you can imagine, such a massive corporation is undoubtedly up to no good.
The film has some heavy noir elements and its style is quite compelling. We discover as the mystery unfurls that the future Paris has the same corporate espionage as there might be to a lesser extent today (the Avalon corporation seems like a French division of the Tyrell Corporation for all its underlying villainy).
Renaissance is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include the 26-minute “Making of Renaissance” which is in French with English subtitles. It has interviews with producer Aton Soumache, director Christian Volckman, writer Matihieu Delaporte, writer Alexandre De La Patelliere, original visual concept artist Marc Miance, set designer Alfred Frazzani, character creator Julien Renoult, motion capture supervisor Remi Brun, Crystal Shepherd-Cross (“Bislane”), and Robert Druney (“Karras”).
Renaissance is a very creative film and reminded me of noirs from times past (ala Orson Welles, especially the black and white imagery). The science fiction storyline does have some familiar bits, but it still is interesting. The English class does add some interesting voice talent but purists might want to listen to the original French tracks.
Renaissance is now available at Amazon and AmazonUK . Visit the DVD database for more information. Click Here to play an online Renaissance game.
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