All the Vermeers in New York
Director: Jon Jost
Year Released: 1990
Rating: 1.0
A displaced, twitchy French woman and a stressed stockbroker find common interest in the paintings by Jan Vermeer - he's under the impression she looks like one of Vermeer's models but that could be an early symptom of the job-induced cerebral hemorrhage he's predestined to have. Jost drowns this in artiness, never investigating the art/commerce connection beyond the surface level - it also features several moments of pretension: a cruel first date that reveals the lead female to be unpleasant (she thinks she's funny by pretending not to know English), a sequence of un-translated French (accompanied by crying), 'showy' shots of the skyline and philosophical ponderings atop the now-deceased World Trade Center. There are also loose strands that don't appear to lead anywhere, like the loud roommate, the disgruntled painter and an art collector seeking to add to her collection.
