By: Jin Song, SFU Student
Sometimes, you watch a movie and you can feel how much fun the creators had making it. The Inventor is one of these movies.
This movie follows Leonardo da Vinci, the titular inventor, and his time serving King Francis I, the King of France at the time. Da Vinci is most widely known for his paintings today, but as you’d expect from the title, The Inventor focuses on his scientific developments instead. Without giving anything away, I would perhaps rename it The Explorer or The Investigator instead, as the core of the film is not his inventions — at least, not in my interpretation — but his discoveries.
I watched the movie not thirty minutes ago and I already want to rewatch it. To be frank, this is entirely due to the animation. Fun and ceaselessly dynamic, it combines stop-motion with cloth dolls and 2D animation in a way I have never seen before. This was a bold decision: 2D and 3D often do not mesh well, but the two here added a layer of whimsical, silly joy that made me feel like a kid again. Every scene is gorgeous, with creative and thoughtful cinematography. It’s clear the creators poured their hearts and souls into this independently made project, and it’s so refreshing to see something born of such love and passion.
In a nutshell, the movie feels like a giant TED-Ed video — and I mean this in the best way possible. The playful storytelling and plot is full of soul. It’s all rather straightforward; no intricate narratives or complex schemes here. Easily understood and accessible, there’s a quality of sincerity to it that is very endearing. Indeed, it’s not grand or sweeping, and therefore not extraordinary . . . but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“It’s clear that the creators poured their hearts and souls into this independently funded project, and it’s so refreshing to see something born of love and passion.”
Our protagonist, da Vinci, is driven, passionate, and brilliant. The movie does a great job of showing us his vast intelligence instead of telling us. I left this movie feeling a deep appreciation for the real-life da Vinci, who really is incredible! The Inventor has inspired me to look deeper into his life, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
This movie is, of course, a biographical film (biopic). It’s hard to discuss any biopic without bringing up historical accuracy. My preliminary research told me that the setting and circumstances depicted did, in fact, exist in history. Of course, no movie can be perfect and it’s perfectly acceptable — and preferable, really — to value narrative over getting each historical fact accurate. But for those who are curious, The Inventor has a hopeful ending, whereas real-life da Vinci’s last words are, “I have offended God and mankind because my work did not reach the quality it should have.” This doesn’t impact my enjoyment or positive opinion of the film at all. It just makes me sad, actually, because da Vinci is one of the greatest minds of all time, yet he says this about his life? Ouch!
In all, The Inventor is a movie that I’m really happy exists. It frames science as something fun and dynamic and creative, with one of humanity’s great thinkers at its core.
