The Burnt Orange Heresy

I enjoyed The Burnt Orange Heresy film it looks very pretty and has some nice dialogue. All the cast were good and Mick Jagger was a surprise in that he played his part very well. Claes Bang seemed quite old for the part of a young and up and coming critic though.

The plot at times seemed a little strained. I read the Charles Willeford book a few years ago which possibly helped in following what was going on so far as what the characters motivations were. The film itself seems closer to something from the Tom Ripley novels than in does the book it is supposedly based on. It left out a key thing about Debney's career which everything should really hinge on, seems the script writer wanted to turn this into amost a European film noir than anything to do with the book. But it was an enjoyable hour and fourty minutes all the same.

This was an intelligent little number that challenged the viewer to decipher it's intricacies and work out the relationship of the characters.

I thought it did a good job of revealing the characters slowly over the first half and slowly their cracks started to show. Greed, perception and the lengths one will go to achieve his desire and the other will go to provide it.

As someone commented it won't suit all viewers because there is no spoon feeding or a tidy ending. The viewer must determine the motivation of each character. The addition of Mick Jagger (or should I say Sir Michael) was an interesting choice. At first I thought his lines were delivered in stilted uneven manner. But the way he fit his character like a well worn high street suit I thought this is his world. The world of high end art, servants and connections we can only dream of is where he is most comfortable. And it showed. His larger than life facial features and consistent delivery was disarming at times. I wish he'd made more movies. The main characters were a joy to watch and Donald Sutherland is a most underrated actor. What a terrific ensemble.

The ending felt a bit rushed and wasn't revealed as artfully as the start of the movie but enjoyable none the less. A second watch is guaranteed.

A 7 because it's a wonderful movie to trip over in a sea of banality that is coming out of Hollywood at the moment. More please.

Some might think it is slow-paced, but I enjoyed the slow build to a very sudden ending which seemed to explode from the first part of the story. I can't say much more without spoilers. I will say that the movie sucks you into its world and the scenery is fantastic.

P.S. Mick Jagger really needs to do more movies. He's a very good actor. In fact, all of the actors in this movie are quite talented.

When I first heard of THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY, fairly early in 2020, I was eager to see almost anything "new" that might be coming out, because of the pandemic shut-down. It didn't become available for purchase until late in the year, if memory serves, but I bought it. And then, it sat on my shelf until early 2022. By the time I got it, there was more new content available. Shinier, flashier "new' movies to watch. But I finally got around to it the other day, and I'm sure glad I did.

Claes Bang is James, an lecturer on art criticism in Milan who we soon see is filled with self-loathing at not being a great artist, or at least the curator of a major museum and an important person in the art world. It seems he was headed in that direction, but his own shady ethics tripped him up. Early in the film, he meets the intriguing Berenice (Elizabeth Debicki) an American on some kind of extended holiday from her small Minnesota town. The two strike up a fling and James invites Berenice to join him on his upcoming visit to the Lake Como home of the filthy rich and very renowned art collector Joseph Cassidy (Mick Jagger). James hopes he might be landing a gig writing about Cassidy's collection, but no, he's given the chance to interview Jerome Debney (Donald Sutherland), the most reclusive famous artist in the world, an opportunity to start his downward career back upward again. All he must do is compromise his already pretty malleable ethics.

First off, this is a very talky film. It does deal with a "caper" of sorts, but it's mostly clever, educated people trying to out-clever each other. The dialogue is rich and witty and sounds nothing like how real people would talk. HOWEVER, it's still a blast to revel for 90 brisk minutes in a world full of people who live in a very distinct, hermetic world. And it's a film that's neatly constructed enough that we have no trouble understanding the plot and the stakes. We have no issues quickly understanding that no one in the film is really showing their true selves (or if they are, their true selves are pretty slimy).

The cast is terrific; they're the best reason to see this film. I very much enjoyed the plot and the dialogue and even the scenery. But these are not characters we'll warm up to immediately, if at all. It takes some great performances to draw the viewer in. Bang (who was terrific in THE SQUARE, another movie in which he plays a person in the highest echelons of art) is great. He's charming and witty, but you can always smell the desperation on him. Debicki is the closest we have to a "heart" in this film, and she may be the character we root for. But there is plenty of mystery about her too, and she is a striking figure. Sutherland is delightful as the reclusive artist, full of a great mix of sliminess and charm. He always seem one step ahead of everyone. Everyone, that is, except Jagger's billionaire. Jagger's character is clearly a "bad guy", but he brings such sting to every insult he casually let's drop from his lips. It may not be the technically greatest performance you'll ever see, but Jagger is clearly so deeply delighted with playing this character, you cannot help but love every minute of his fairly brief appearance.

As the machinations of plot get ever more complex, and the ethical (and criminal) choices made play out, the pace of the film matches. Director Giuseppe Capotondi apparently understands that this thing is so talky that it needs to move fast. He lets us enjoy the actors, but things keep moving. It's too outrageous to allow us much time to think about it. This is a caper/heist film in which the heist is NOT the payoff. It's the build up to it, and the rather unexpected aftermath that are key. I can easily envision a director taking a leisurely approach to this: let's spend lots of time looking at these lovely people and lovely scenery. But Capotondi doesn't waste a minute. And in the end, when the final moments play out, I had a big smile on my face. It all played out just like the tone and characters suggested it might all along.

It's a cerebral thriller, with juicy dialogue and acting. I'm very glad I finally got around to watching it!

"The Burnt Orange Heresy" (2019 release from Italy; 98 min.) brings the story of art critic James Figueras. As the movie opens, James is in Milan, Italy, giving an art critic presentation about some painting. In the audience is Berenice, an American from Duluth. Afterwards, these two hook up. James mentions that he has been invited by art dealer Joseph Cassidy to his summer estate at Lake Como, and would she like to come along? Berenice agrees, and out to Lake Como they drive. It's not long after when Cassidy reveals his reasons for inviting James to his lakeside estate... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience , you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is the latest from Italian director Giuseppe Capotondi. Here he brings the big screen adaptation of the book of the same name by Charles Willeford. I haven't read the book and hence can't comment how closely the film sticks to the book. Also, this movie is super-plot heavy, so I can't say anything more about how it all unfolds. Instead, I will simply say this: the movie's built-up takes a long time (pretty much the first hour), and all is then revealed in the last half hour, so just make sure you wait out the first hour... Tce acting performances are tops: Danish actor Claas Bang (wjo looks just like Pierce Brosnan) as James, Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki as Berenice, Donald Sutherland as he recluse painter Jerome Debney, and last but not least, Mick Jagger as the art dealer Cassidy. Now a crisp 77 years young, this is Jagger's first feature film role out of the Stones since 2001's "The Man from Elysian Fields", if you can believe it. Much of the movie plays out at Lake Como, and the lush photography really helps the film. Kudos also for the nice orchestral score from Scottish composer Craig Armstrong.

"The Orange Burnt Heresy" premiered at last year's Venice film festival to good acclaim, and it was supposed to be released in US theaters in March. Then a little thing called COVID-19 happened. The film finally opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati and I could wait to see it. (The theater strictly abides by all COVID-19 measures including social distancing and face masks.) The early Sunday evening screening where I saw this at was attended poorly (3 people including myself). If you are interested in an arts-focuses thriller that delivers in the last half hour, I'd readily suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.