Paris, 2054. Karras, a cop with a past and a graduate of the Dirty Harry School of policing, is put on the case of a missing young woman who is a scientist with the powerful Avalon Corporation. During his search for her whereabouts he uncovers a conspiracy.

Nothing I just wrote sums up what Renaissance (directed by Christian Volckman) is about. Its plot is really just a coat hanger for its stunning visual style. The film looks and feels like a very classy graphic novel. Renaissance is in black and white – save two exceptions – and it takes the notion of monochrome to a new level; one that makes Sin City look like a positive feast of colour. It’s as if you are reading a graphic novel with somebody turning the pages for you. Moreover, Renaissance approaches the black and white theme from the other side. We are used to seeing monochrome as black on white, but here most of the time the frames and images are made up of a black background with white used to cut out an image or a figure. Minimalist does not even begin to cover it.

I am unaware of the techniques used to create Renaissance. The fact that the credits mention voice talent, actors and animators, suggest that it’s creation process is closer to that of A scanner darkly than to Sin City, although I doubt this film would have been made without the influence of Robert Rodriguez’ masterpiece. Although clearly part of the Sin City heritage, Renaissance is a thing of its own. It looks animated rather than acted, although acting was a part of the creative process. There appear to be actors, with animation superimposed upon their performance and surroundings and after that, a rerecording of the dialogue by separate actors who do not physically appear in the film.

However it came about, every frame of Renaissance is a little painting of its own, telling a story in itself. One could freeze frame this film, one image at a time, and not get bored with what there is to see.

The first thing I thought when I saw Renaissance was: Blade Runner. Something in the way future Paris is introduced upon the screen reminded me of the Blade Runner atmosphere. However, most of Renaissance leans heavily on a 50’s noir mood. This unfortunately means that the dialogue is more than a little insipid. At times it sounds like a badly written weekly detective novel, the kind that is the male reader’s equivalent of a Harlequin paperback. And although the how’s and what’s of the central conspiracy are compelling, they are not particularly original and don’t take much effort to figure out. Renaissance is not about the destination or the state of the vehicle by which it travels. It is all about the visual journey and not about how exactly we get there.

But the stylized visuals have a drawback. Because of the monochrome look and the graphic novel style that both allow for very little (defining) shadow, the faces of the performers are expressionless, save for what the animators chose to add. This means that the considerable voice talents of Daniel Craig, Catherine McCormack, Ian Holm and Jonathan Pryce are essentially wasted. The emotion they place in their performances is in no way reflected in the visuals and this discrepancy makes for a false tone (pun intended). The style of Renaissance is not suited to accommodate for the emotional development of its characters.

These things (bad dialogue and lack of emotional development) make Renaissance into a deficient experience. One is aware that things are missing, are not quite right; and the visuals do not compensate for this.

Travelling the road that was first paved by Sin City, Renaissance, although lacking the impact (as well as the quality) of that film, can stand on its own. It may not be a complete package, but everything about it is a feast for the eye.