REVIEW: 'The Forger' Reveals Beauty As You Take a Better Look!

You have no father, well, you never really knew him anyway. Your mother has left you behind in an apartment room, without saying goodbye. You have presumably a life that is rather wreck. But at least you have mad skills in painting, that is a score. With this talent, what will you do? a.) Take pursuit of what you love to do: paint, b.) "kiss the hand first, and then kiss the girl", or c.) be teased by an expert forged art dealer. Joshua (Josh Hutcherson) gets all of the above in 'The Forger', a movie with sustained compelling charm and finesse. It had its share of the many bantamweight predicaments a Hollywood movie faces, but with its sparkling cast, good direction and writing, the movie has finished a dreamy-feel landscape all-prepped for an exhibit.

I am not very sure if this is all coincidence but like an artwork, 'The Forger' reveals beauty as you take a better look. Upon your first glance it might appear as a scrap, but once drawn in to the movie, you will never be withdrawn as you are officially looking at a real treasure.

Joshua is an orphan who tries to stray around Carmel, Cali to see what his life has left in store for him. He was already left by his mother and he doesn't really know if she's ever going to come back. The thought of his mother thinking about him is an alienated feeling, equally when he thinks about her. His intricate set of painting skills will drive him into meeting an art dealer, Everly Campbell (look, we have Dr. Octopus [Alfred Molina] from Sam Raimi's second Spidey!) whose attention was immediately captured. In the apartment room, where our orphan was left by his mother, there rented Mr. Campbell. He saw the sketch on the ceiling and he thanked that he took a really quick look above.

As an orphan, Joshua is sent to live with Everly as his "temporary" guardian because there is no relative that is left to take care of him. Eventually, Joshua will find out that Everly is a dealer of forged art creations. Everly tried to temp the boy and he seemed to be good with that, the boy accepted his teasing proposal. They will work long hours to copy exactly one painting; one that will potentially throw wealth at Everly and Joshua. In the process of their forgery of the artwork though, Joshua meets a witty old woman, Anne-Marie Cole (Lauren Bacall), an infamous painter herself. There also came Amber (Hayden Panettiere) who will indirectly makes Joshua realize things. In the midst of being incomplete, will you find yourself in the midst of it still? Or will you go and set yourself in motion to the right thing to do?

Shot back in 2009, when Hutcherson was still fifteen years old, and still was honing his acting skills, 'The Forger' is one of those beginning movies wherein actors that are now-celebrated, you will see their improvement. For starters, Josh did a terrible job on the acting in this one. He was an on and off relationship with the audience. In one scene he'd be very good, in another he'd be the exact opposite. This lets one to think of him as Josh Hutcherson, not the orphan Joshua. There were solid acts in the movie lead by Lauren Bacall who seemed effortless when doing her craft. Hayden Panettiere was shown in very minimal scenes but easily had sparkled through the movie, perhaps her innate charm. Alfred Molina, hands down to the man. 'Nuff said.

(TRIVIA: The movie was previously called 'Carmel', then 'Carmel by the Sea' and then finally 'The Forger', which is the most relevant title anyway.)

I'll tell you upfront: 'The Forger' was easily a turn-off for me, initially. I mean, upon seeing Hutcherson in his worst acting yet is like the least of my predicaments. The movie was a blur, sending us to different focuses especially told entirely in Joshua's perspective. Upon seeing it in the first few minutes, you will really think that its a shrunk version of a TV soap opera. I liked however the bravery of the film when it comes to the story: it had little to offer but something that was entirely new. Something that is rare like a treasure nowadays.

It's my second movie to watch in Amazon Movie Rentals and so far I am enjoying the experience. 'The Forger' deserves no less than what it is receiving by random viewers, it deserves nothing like that I'm certain.

GRADE: B