Renaissance review

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Sin City meets Waking Life in Christian Volckman’s futuristic Euro-anime, which combines the monochrome visuals of a Frank Miller graphic novel with human actors rotoscoped into protean versions of their living selves. The result is both bold and striking, set as it is in a 2054 Paris where familiar landmarks like the Notre Dame and the Sacre Coeur perch hundreds of feet above a hi-tech, excavated dystopia. Alas, it’s also relentlessly dull, with noirish chases and shoot-outs buried in a sea of Gallic pretension.

The chief drawback is the impossibly convoluted sci-fi plot, involving a roughneck cop stumbling upon the secret of immortality while searching for a missing girl. Add Daniel Craig and Jonathan Pryce dubbing shadowy synthespians that look nothing like them and the result is a recipe for bonce-scratching bewilderment.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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