Museum Hours - B

Not Rated, 107 minutes

Low-key, observant "Museum Hours" takes the art-house film to a different level

The museum in the film "Museum Hours"

The keen but unusual new feature drama film from acclaimed American filmmaker Jem Cohen takes the tern "art-house film" very seriously. Part observation and part art lesson, it literally sees itself in the form of a painting. When Vienna museum guard Johann (Bobby Sommer) befriends an enigmatic visitor named Anne (Canadian singer Mary Margaret O'Hara), the grand Kunsthistorisches Art Museum becomes a mysterious crossroads which sparks explorations of their lives, the city, and the ways artworks reflect and shape the world. Directed, produced and written by Cohen, whose made mostly experimental or documentary films, the unconventionally affecting "Museum Hours," which explores and observes many notions, primarily how life imitates art and vice versa. Cohen's narrative is an unusual but engaging one; it begins focused on the friendship between Bobby and Anne, but will often pause his narrative for lengthy discussions on the influence of art or a specific painting, or a very different look at how art may shape or influence. While certainly a bit odd and meandering at times, these pauses add to the texture and tone of "Museum Hours," and wants to state that we as humans often make these pauses, and in turn, art itself is a pause in time to tell a story or make a statement. Cohen has also creates two engaging characters in Johann and Anne, and as their friendship grows, we care more about them too. "Museum Hours," much like art itself, isn't for everyone, especially those looking for violence, fast-pacing or action (though there is some art-influenced nudity, which may spark some interest). It occasionally lacks focus but then that may be the point. We all view art differently (including film), and it affects us all differently.

Wes's Grade: B