All the Vermeers in New York

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All the Vermeers in New York
Directed byJon Jost
Written byJon Jost
Produced byHenry S. Rosenthal
StarringEmmanuelle Chaulet
Katherine Bean
Gordon Joseph Weiss
Stephen Lack
CinematographyJon Jost
Edited byJon Jost
Music byJon A. English
Distributed byAmerican Playhouse Theatrical Films
Release date
1990
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

All the Vermeers in New York is a 1990 American film written, directed and produced by Jon Jost.

Plot[edit]

Mark, a Wall Street financial broker, falls in love with a French actress at first sight, due to her resembling a Vermeer painting, and then proceeds to follow her from room to room in a museum. The broker goes up to the actress, Anna, and introduces himself which spawns a romantic relationship. Anna lives with two roommates — a wealthy woman and a female opera singer. As the relationship evolves, Mark dies from a cerebral hemorrhage while calling Anna. The film ends with Anna going into a Vermeer painting.

Production[edit]

The film was created with Jon Jost's love of Vermeer paintings as a central organizing theme. This is one of his first films produced in 35mm.[1] Vincent Canby wrote in The New York Times the film's purpose was to show art as the last bit of humanism in a world without love.[2] Marjorie Baumgarten, a writer for Austin Chronicle, called All the Vermeers in New York an experimental film.[1] Emanuel Levy wrote in Cinema of Outsiders that the film is a mix of "narrative and experimental cinema".[3]

Reception[edit]

At the Berlin International Film Festival in 1991, the film won the Caligari Film Award[4] for "thematic or stylistic innovation in film in the Forum of New Cinema section of the festival". Roger Ebert reviewed the film, saying "When All the Vermeers in New York was over, I stayed for a moment in my seat because I didn't feel as if the film had ended. It got me involved, it got me intrigued, and my interior clock estimated that it would take another 30 minutes to conclude. And then it stopped."[5] Ty Burr of Entertainment Weekly said that "Jost's influences may be foreign-film gods like Godard and Ozu, but he doesn't share their contemplative humanity, and what's left smells like art-house posturing."[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Marjorie Baumgarten (June 19, 1992). "All the Vermeers in New York". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  2. ^ Vincent Canby (1 May 1992). "All the Vermeers in New York". The New York Times. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  3. ^ Levy, Emanuel (2001). Cinema of Outsiders: The Rise of American Independent Film. NYU Press. p. 61. ISBN 9780814751244. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  4. ^ Matthew Tobey. "All the Vermeers in New York (1990)". Allmovie. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  5. ^ Roger Ebert (May 1, 1992). "All The Vermeers In New York". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved May 23, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  6. ^ Ty Burr (November 20, 1992). "All the Vermeers in New York (1992)". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 23, 2012.

External links[edit]