He
is something like a cross between the protagonists from Hitchcock’s Spellbound and To Catch a Thief. Dr. Brandt is a world-renowned head-shrinker, who
is fully capable of curing his own inner demons, but his therapy is literally
criminal. With the help of his patients, he will steal what troubles his psyche.
“Possess your problems to conquer them” is one of the principles of his treatment,
so the good doctor will take possession of some of the world’s greatest works
of art in director-screenwriter-animation designer Milorad Krstić’s sly
animated caper Ruben Brandt, Collector (trailer here), which opens this Friday in New York.
Mimi
is cat burglar par excellence, who was hired to pilfered a rare gem from the
Louvre, but she swiped an exquisite Chinese fan instead, because she found it
more aesthetically pleasing. Alas, her nemesis, private detective Mike Kowalski
recovers the rare piece, but Mimi slips through his fingers yet again. Of
course, her mobbed up employer is unhappy with her improvisation, so she
decides to lay low by seeking treatment at the Swiss clinic under the direction
of celebrated art therapist Ruben Brandt.
Brandt
really is a good doctor, who has been able to help his patients, like Bye-Bye
Joe, a celebrity bodyguard, who is more Vin Diesel than Vin Diesel, but he has
been plagued by vivid nightmares of great artistic masterpieces (Botticelli’s
Venus drowned him j-horror style with her tentacle-like hair, for example).
Unbeknownst to Brandt, his father, a B.F. Skinnerist mind-control researcher, tried
to program into an artistic genius using subliminally enhanced cartoons. Out of
appreciation and gratitude, Mimi, Bye-Bye Joe and their fellow patients, the ultra-flat
bank-robber Membrano Bruno and the super-hacker Fernando will steal the
paintings tormenting Brant’ subconscious.
On
one level, Collector is a globe-trotting
escapade that visits some of the most picturesque museums on earth, including
the Guggenheim and the Oscar Niemeyer-designed Niterói Contemporary Art Museum in
Rio. In addition, it is crammed to the rafters with erudite visual references
to fine art and great cinema. Frankly, it could take hours to unpack and
catalog them all, but most viewers will be distracted by Krstić’s manically-energetic
and highly cinematic chase scenes. They are grounded in reality, but he takes
advantage of the animated format to push them beyond the bounds of what mortal
stunt-performers should be willing to attempt.
It
should also be noted Collector is definitely
intended to be an animated film for mature adults. The action never gets
particularly violent, but it definitely has a grown-up sensibility. There is no
hanky-panky between characters either, but Mimi is definitely a slinky,
seductive femme fatale and Kowalski’s assistant Marina often works remotely
from the spa, in various states of undress. In fact, she ought to replace
Jessica Rabbit as the pin-up favorite of animation geeks.
Honestly,
Collector is such a clever and
stylish film, it makes us wonder what the heck the Academy thinking overlooking
it (as well as an original vision like Tito and the Birds) in favor of two ho-hum sequels. Seriously, the animated
division needs to raise its game and refine their tastes.
Of
course, Collector is much more than a
series of cultural and artistic references. It is also jolly entertaining. This
is a jaunty romp that has some ingenious shoes to drop, worthy of old Hitch
himself. Krstić’s animation is
also archly striking, somewhat resembling Gagnol & Felicioli’s Phantom Boy, but with cubist accents to
give it a bit of surrealist panache. Highly recommended for fans of high and pop art, Ruben Brandt, Collector opens this Friday (2/15) in New York, at
the Angelika Film Center.