Museum Hours is the story of Anne, a Canadian woman in Vienna to care for a distant relative who has fallen into a coma. She speds a lot of time in the city's Art History Museum and is befriended by one of the guards there who acts as her unofficial guide to the museum and to selected aspects of the city.
The two discuss the meaning and value of art, politics and their life experiences, while wandering round the Museum, various coffee shops and the wintry streets of Vienna.
The film sometimes feels like an advert for the museum and in particular its Breughel collection, though the wider city doesn't come out of it looking quite so wonderful, as the clouds never seem to lift and the camera lingers on building sites and run down street corners.
However the film is a particularly intelligent tour guide, juxtaposing as it does scenes from the museum alongside the flea markets of the city centre and taking a tour into the underworld of a lake grotto just as Anne's relative slips into death.
Its a lovely, meditative film for anyone interested in art history or in Vienna.
Museum Hours is on at Edinburgh Filmhouse until Thursday 26 September.
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The film reminded me of my visit to Vienna, many years ago now and I may see if I can transfer some of my photos onto the computer and write about the visit!
2 comments:
I watched the trailer, and this definitely looks like a film that Kevin and I would enjoy. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.
Mary Margaret O'Hara is the sister of actress, Catherine O'Hara, with whom you may be familiar from the Canadian SCTV comedy program and some big screen films. Mary Margaret herself, is also a singer/musician and had a fairly successful recording in 1988 entitled, "Miss America". She is good friends with the band, R.E.M.
The director of this film, Jem Scott, also directed some of their music videos.
Hi Kat, thanks for the info!
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