A psychotherapist suffers violent nightmares inspired by legendary works of art. Four of his patients, expert thieves, offer to steal the works since he believes that once he owns them, the nightmares will disappear. He becomes a wanted criminal know as “The Collector”. Who will dare to catch him and his gang?
One of the core understandings of art is that it reflects life and in turn, life reflects art. “Ruben Brandt, Collector” plays heavily on this understanding in this animated film.
Ruben Brandt is a scholar of both art and mind, developing his theory and practice of treating addictions and vices using art therapy. Once his nightmares begin, in which famous works of art try to kill him, he enlists some of his patients who include expert hackers, thieves, and con-men into stealing the valuable pieces that haunt him.
The first thing the viewer is treated to from the opening shot to the last is the surrealistic painting aesthetic that becomes the signature of the film. Many filmmakers strive to make their shots each look as beautiful as a painting, but none have come to as close to achieving this as “Collector.” Through the animated medium, it is clear that careful measures were put into place to make each shot stand alone as its own fine piece of art. Every frame is filled with elements of cubism, dynamic textures, or surrealist interpretations of the characters that make you feel as if you are flipping through a coffee table book. This with the smooth natural animation makes for a truly living piece of art that comes off of the pages.
This journey is filled with mobsters, spies, investigators, and chase scenes. Yet, the film is very grounded in reality despite some characters having three eyes or two mouths. While the film is fully animated, nothing in this picture is cartoonish. There’s a line of reality that the characters walk while being depicted in such a surrealist look. When watching “Collector” the most animated action that takes place is that of the action sequences which are just in tune to the same kind of movements one would see in “Mission: Impossible.” Making the film walk this line creates a much more mature tone than playing cartoonish like Road Runner dropping the ACME Anvil on Wile E. Coyote.
While the world is gorgeous and fun to explore, with dynamic characters with distinct personality, once all of the areas have been established and the characters arches are on track to collide, the film hits a rough patch on pacing. Moments go on as if to say there is more to come and end up just winding down and moving on to the next. While at no point the audience would start to check their watch, there are quite a few spots in the story the leave the audience thinking “got it, good, let’s move on.” This partnered with a plot twist that the audience is on thirty minutes before creates an overall feeling of style over substance for the movie.
The lack of a really engaging plot beyond the halfway point is fine and really not too harsh as one would think. It’s only after reflecting on how much work went into and how bulletproof the style of the film is, that the viewer decides that the same amount of detail should have been worked into the story.
In theaters Friday, March 8th
