“I accuse you gentlemen…of murder!”

     Nightwatching works on many levels.  It is a fine British comedy, with some witty writing and some terrifically funny lines.  It is a compelling and tense murder mystery, where the real culprits behind the murder aren’t revealed to the end.  It’s also an interesting historical drama and biopic about the famous painter Rembrandt as he painted his most famous work, Night Watch.  And it’s a wonderful performance in the role of Rembrandt by an unlikely actor - Martin Freeman.  Now, I know him very well from the British version of The Office, and from his role as Arthur Dent in Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.  So his performance came as a surprise to me.  It probably did not come as a surprise to him.

     Freeman works in this role because he appears to have supreme self-confidence at every moment while he is on the screen.  His Rembrandt is charming, playful, carefree and yet deeply troubled and pained by the evil he sees around him.  He is a womanizer and a free-spirited scoundrel, but he is also an artist and a genius and someone whose passion for the truth runs deep.  When he gets commissioned to paint the portrait of the members of the local militia, he initially wants to refuse the commission.  Convinced by his wife to just go ahead and do it, for the money, he reluctantly agrees.  But when a murder is committed, and he discovers this same militia are behind it, he paints his accusation against them into the picture.

     What follows certainly takes liberties with the facts of Rembrandt’s life.  I’m sure that not all the events represented in Nightwatching really took place in real life.  But it does follow the arc of the legendary painter’s life, and he does indeed end up in bed with all the women with whom he was reported to have been.  There are tragic moments in the film, as when we learn that one of the militiamen is running a brothel full of pre-teen orphans.  There are some very funny moments, mostly when Rembrandt is being a jerk to the militiamen he doesn’t like, while they tend to be too stupid to notice.  And there are some tense and dramatic moments as the mystery unfolds on screen.

     Also there are murders, conspiracies, paintings, tragic deaths, loves, boobs and a wonderful performance by Martin Freeman.  Who would have thought the guy from The Office could be a serious force in a Shakespearean period piece biopic about one of the greatest painters ever?  Not me.  But I suspect Martin Freeman thought so.  Nightwatching is the best movie I saw this week, and it comes out June 9th from Alliance Films.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 4:56 pm and is filed under 2007, Biography, Biopic, Comedy, Drama, Emily Holmes, Eva Birthistle, Historical, Jodhi May, Martin Freeman, Mystery, Natalie Press, Period, Period Piece, Peter Greenaway, Toby Jones. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.