Ryan McNeil
Note: Once more with feeling. I’ve found myself in a neat situation of being both a few reviews behind, and out-of-town for a few days. So to keep the line moving, I thought I’d offer up some random thoughts about a few films watched in recent weeks. Hope y’all don’t mind the break in the routine, things will go back to normal around here tomorrow. – RM
This is the sort of film I read blogs and listen to podcasts for. The sort of film that would normally fly under-the-radar were it not for a ringing endorsement by people whose tastes influence my own. It’s the sort of unsexy release that can easily get lost in the shuffle of arthouse releases, but one that will stick with me for a long time to come.
For the uninitiated, a woman named Anne from Montreal is summoned to Vienna as the emergency contact for a distant cousin. The cousin lies in a coma, and Anne has nothing to do but wait. While she waits, she spends time at The Kunsthistorisches Art Museum, where she strikes up a friendship with a security guard.
In the hands of most filmmakers, this would be the makings for a silly rom-com, but in the hands of Jem Cohen, it’s a fascinating look at art and how we interact with it.
As I watched the film, I was reminded of my art school days where I would spend hours on end at museums and galleries, working on assignments and sketching works that I didn’t really care about. In some ways I was like the best characters in this film, in other ways I was like the worst characters in this film. There were moments where the works would fascinate me, and change the way I see things. There were other times when I was a disruptive shithead, or I would turn a deaf ear to tour guides and scholars.
All of these people wander through MUSEUM HOURS, and all of them illicit a reaction in us. The greatest reaction though, is reserved for the art.
Not only are we taken by the hand and pulled through that gallery to look and reflect, but we’re also stopped in front of seemingly mundane settings and made to reflect on them as pieces of art as well. It allows us to see the beauty in the everyday, and wonder to ourselves just “what is art?”.
It’s a film that encourages us to look and encourages us to think. More specifically, it’s a film that just wants us to let our mind wander and see what sort of thoughts we think up on our own. It both guides the tour and lets us guide ourselves, and to that end it is like very few other films around. Not a lot “happens”, and yet it gives us so very much to consider.
Films like this walk a delicate line, since they either engage an audience member, or lose them entirely. Some viewers will watch and get lost in their own thoughts, others may want to hurry the film along. very much like a trip to the museum!
I’m not sure how many people I have inspired to track down this film just through these few hundred words, but if I can inspire even one, I’ll call it a win. It has a lot of beauty to it and a lot of warmth. Most importantly it has the capacity to inspire so many different ideas in those who take it in.