'Tim's Vermeer' A Review

Tim's Vermeer is a documentary about Tim Jenison's obsession with discovering and duplicating Johannes Vermeer painting technique. The film provides some context from Tim as an inventor and graphic designer and then follows him on his journey into Vermeer's work. Tim suspects that Vermeer must have used some kind of optic device in order to capture light in the way he does in his paintings. Tim hypothetically duplicates this device and attempts to make a reproduction of Vermeer's The Music Lesson.

The film is interesting and delves into detail regarding Vermeer, his paintings, optics of the 17th century, and his possible technique. Tim is engaging as we see him gently toil through his experiment but he lacks the charm to really hook the viewer. His is almost too matter-of-fact and calm. There is a moment towards the end of the film where Tim becomes emotional but its the only glimpse we get from him of real feeling. Ultimately the film is rather dry and it's narrow focus prevents us from getting to know Tim or discover why he is so obsessed. It mentions the relationship between technology and art but goes no further. At the core the film asks can Vermeer's technique be duplicated yes or no and everything else is put aside in service of that one relatively unimportant question.

A light, enjoyable, slightly curious film that delves into one extremely specific facet of art pedagogy.

Rent It.