Summary
UNCOVERED is a ten year old film, popular in its co-producing countries of the UK and Spain, and is finally available here for those who want to see 'early Kate Bekinsale'. The story weaves around an art restorer (Bekinsale) who finds bizarre clues in the underpainting of an old Flemish master painting that is being prepared for sale by a once rich/now destitute family. The art restorer has been raised by a fey gentleman who turns out to be part the current family requesting the restoration. As she carefully uncovers the surface of the painting and has it xrayed, she finds clues to a mystery of a murder, a murder that slowly is recreated around her. This is a good little mystery whose solution is tightly pigmented in a rather beautiful painting and a game of chess, which is the centerpiece of the painting. The cast, including Kate Bekinsale, is good if a bit campy: John Wood, Sinead Cusack, Paudge Behan, Art Malik, James Villiers, Michael Gough. But the real star of the film is the beauty of Barcelona, Spain - the setting for the story. Gaudi is everywhere! The lighting is gorgeous and the cinematography excellent. There are things with which one can quibble, not the least the techniques used by the art restoration advisors, but the one major fault with this film is the sound track. The music is abominable and the ambient sound is so loud that it sounds like a home movie instead of a professional production: you have to strain to hear the dialogue over the street sounds outside the rooms. Still in all, this is an entertaining movie, worth a watch.