A brilliant young scientist goes missing in 2054 Paris, and a hardboiled cop is on the case. Visions of Blade Runner and 50s noir were clearly dancing in the head of the talented director, Christian Volckman, who helped develop the graphically fascinating black-and-white animation process used here, but sere style is all this French flick (dubbed into English by an impressive voice cast, including Daniel Craig as the cop) has to offer. The potential for genuine intrigue and socio-scientific speculation is ripe, but the technological breakthrough behind the mystery turns out to be nothing but a futuristic MacGuffin. Set it all in 1954, or 1854, and you’d barely notice the difference.

(Technorati tags: Renaissance)