A Montreal woman (Mary Margaret O’Hara) journeys to Vienna to watch over a comatose cousin and, left to her own devices in a foreign city, strikes up a friendship with an elderly guard (Bobby Sommer) at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Their friendship plays out largely in the museum galleries, against canvases by Rembrandt and Bruegel, and a lengthy monologue about the latter, delivered by a docent at the movie’s midpoint, underlines how deeply writer-director Jem Cohen (Benjamin Smoke) has internalized Breugel’s fascination with seemingly trivial but sharply idiosyncratic characters. The two leads contribute fresh, genuine performances, and what might have been a musty academic exercise gains in tension from Cohen’s deft juxtaposing of vocal narration, character detail, and majestic artwork. In English and subtitled German.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Directed by Jem Cohen 107 min. Music Box 3733 N. Southport 773-871-6604musicboxtheatre.com
