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  1. Entertainment
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  3. Documentaries

Tim's Vermeer review

Science and paintbrushes collide

Reviews
By Neil Smith published 13 January 2014

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Magician duo Penn and Teller specialise in illusion, so there is a logic of sorts to them dedicating their doc to a Texas inventor’s quest to make a copy of a Johannes Vermeer painting.

Using mirrors, a camera obscura and hundreds of meticulous man-hours, Tim Jenison does indeed craft his own personal simulacrum of ‘The Music Lesson’ that has our own David Hockney aghast.

Whether audiences will be as enraptured is a moot point.

Yet Penn Jillette’s ebullient on-screen presence goes some way towards energising a movie in which we are asked to watch paint dry.

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Neil Smith
Neil Smith
Freelance Writer

Neil Smith is a freelance film critic and writer who contributes regularly to Heat, SFX and Screen International. He's a long-time member of the London Film Critics’ Circle and was a contributing editor at Total Film for many years.

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