"Tim's Vermeer" is probably not a documentary that the average person would ever watch. Me being a huge Penn & Teller fan, however, I was the perfect audience. My wife, however, is not such a huge fan--but she ended up enjoying the film even more than me!
This documentary was produced by Penn Gillette and he narrates it as well. His silent partner, Teller, directed the film. It's a strange story about a guy with too much time on his hands who has an obsession--to test out the theory that Jan Vermeer (the super-famous Dutch painter) actually might have used advanced technology (specifically a camera obscura-sort of device) to help him make such a super-realistic painting. Fortunately Tim Jenison appears to be very rich due to some of his inventions and has the time and obsessive drive to test out his idea. Through the course of the film, you see him exactingly replicate the studio room used by Vermeer and actually paint a Vermeer-style painting using this technique. What makes it even more amazing is that Jenison is NOT a painter and has novice skills in that department.
While this probably sounds a bit boring, it really isn't. I love just about all of Penn & Teller's work--and this is no exception. As for the wife, she is an engineer and the way that science and engineering was used in the show REALLY got her excited--and it's rare to ever see my wife get his excited about a film. She loved it. Well worth seeing.
This documentary was produced by Penn Gillette and he narrates it as well. His silent partner, Teller, directed the film. It's a strange story about a guy with too much time on his hands who has an obsession--to test out the theory that Jan Vermeer (the super-famous Dutch painter) actually might have used advanced technology (specifically a camera obscura-sort of device) to help him make such a super-realistic painting. Fortunately Tim Jenison appears to be very rich due to some of his inventions and has the time and obsessive drive to test out his idea. Through the course of the film, you see him exactingly replicate the studio room used by Vermeer and actually paint a Vermeer-style painting using this technique. What makes it even more amazing is that Jenison is NOT a painter and has novice skills in that department.
While this probably sounds a bit boring, it really isn't. I love just about all of Penn & Teller's work--and this is no exception. As for the wife, she is an engineer and the way that science and engineering was used in the show REALLY got her excited--and it's rare to ever see my wife get his excited about a film. She loved it. Well worth seeing.