Renaissance

Who could have imagined that Mickey Spillane’s neofascist, imperialist S-M would come back to haunt us half a century later as neonoir designer chic? Christian Volckman’s high-contrast, black-and-white graphic novel in motion, set in a mid-21st-century Paris where many of the signs are in French but the natives speak English, has striking ‘Scope visuals and tiresome characters who become literally transparent whenever this suits the graphic design. In keeping with the material’s cold war pedigree, the villains usually have foreign accents. The story, credited to many hands, is intricate, and among the rotoscoped actors are Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Ian Holm, and Jonathan Pryce. R, 82 min. (JR)

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