vince’s ear

These days if I’m watching cable, I’m watching movies. Rarely do I actually watch “TV.” Aside from a couple of shows most television is crap today anyway, with brain dead “quiz” shows and reality TV. I get enough reality. I want to escape reality and go on adventures, and be entertained with comedy, action, and decent drama. When cinema gives us a good art flick, I’m hooked. So don’t be surprised if I’m a little biased in my ratings- I’ll try to be objective.

This is the second list of movies about painters, the first of which you can read here if you’d like. In that list I mentioned Basquiat (1996), Caravaggio (1986), Surviving Picasso, Love is the Devil, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and I briefly wrote of Pollock, which I had not seen at the time. This time I’ve included a link to the trailers so you can see for yourself. They’re all worth checking out.

Goya’s Ghosts ****½

I did a more in depth post about this one a few weeks ago, but it’s certainly worth mentioning again. It is rare that I give a full 5 star (outstanding) rating but this one came close (I gave 5 to There Will Be Blood and Vanilla Sky). As you can imagine I really liked this one. It’s hard to warn you not to have expectations about something while writing a review. That’s akin to telling you not to think about something specific- of course you’ll think about it. Yet one of the reasons I think the critics didn’t like this was because they were expecting something different. It is not exactly a biography on Goya, but involves him in a story about two of his sitters- one being a powerful inquisitor of the brutal Spanish Inquisition, and the other being an innocent victim of such.

The movie is full of suspense and action, as well as good acting. I consider the political messages and parallels to the modern era welcome, but I will warn that you may disagree with me. However, if you are a Goya fan you will enjoy the many paintings you will see in this with an impressive collage at the closing credits. There’s also a scene which shows the artist making a print from soup to nuts- pretty cool stuff.

Goya’s Ghosts trailer.

Pollock ***

I’ll Admit I mentioned this in the first 6 Films About Painters, and I am also mentioning it here in 6 More Films, which doesn’t make sense entirely- so sue me. But this time I actually watched it and I was impressed. Ed Harris (nominee, Best Actor) directs and plays New York abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock alongside Marcia Gay Harden (winner, Best Supporting Actress) who plays Pollock’s wife, artist Lee Krasner. It also stars Val Kilmer as Willem De Kooning, and Jennifer Connelly as Pollock’s love interest who survived the crash that took the life of the artist and another passenger in 1956.

This is a decent artist biography about the man, the artist, the husband. It is no surprise that Harris was nominated for his performance of an often disturbed and extremely alcoholic artist. We see his frustrations with his wife, his rough dealings with critics, and his reaction to success. You’ll see plenty of abstract paintings throughout Jackson Pollock’s history from his early days to his creative drip paintings - all of which were executed by Harris.

Pollock trailer.

Downtown 81 ***

Ed Harris convincingly portrays Jackson Pollock, Stellan Skårsgaard acts as the deaf Spanish painter Goya, Anthony Hopkins as Pablo Picasso, but how often do we find the actual artist in a movie? This is Downtown 81 starring the New York artist Jean Michel Basquiat. Basquiat was played by Jeffrey Wright in Basquiat, which I talked bout in the first post. Basuiat (1996) was a biographical movie about the young artist’s rise to fame in in the 1980s and his friendship with pop artist Andy Warhol. Downtown 81, made in 1981, is more of a “beat movie” providing a documentary on the hip sub-cultures of the city.

Semi-biographical of the artist it portrays, the movie is a fictional account of his daily life. At one point the landlord throws him out after a fruitless attempt to offer some paintings as rent. The movie progresses to show the dealings and interactions with various unique New York characters. Saying this movie is “artsy” is an understatement. While the movie stars the real life Basquait, the audio has been unfortunately lost, and is dubbed over. Of course this adds something to the hipster indie quality.

Downtown 81 trailer.

Factory Girl **½

I hope I’m not being too harsh on this movie. Let me say it is about Edie Sedgwick, one of Andy Warhol’s Factory Kids, and it does not center on Warhol. Nevertheless a movie involving Warhol is worth mentioning. Even though it is about Edie, she and the other Factory Kids, along with the crazy things they did, and the jet set popularity and fashion, and crazy lifestyle was what Andy’s life was all about at the time.

I guess I didn’t like it that much because of the portrayal of Warhol. Usually I like Guy Pearce. He was good in Time Machine, and the first movie I saw him in Ravenous (now that’s a good movie!). We all know Warhol was gay- he was what was called a “dandy,” fashionably ambiguous, yet didn’t come “out” as it is known today. I’ve read through Andy’s unabridged diaries and even there does he not talk so much of the male member as he does in Factory Girl. So it seems his portrayal was just a little over the top.

That said, I’m sure it was a decent flick on the life of Edie Sedgewick- which is what the movie is about anyhow. So I’m probably judging it wrong. Either way I still give it two and a half stars. But to be fair I think I’ll have to check it out again and reappraise it.
Factory Girl trailer.

Frida

I’ll have to file this under “To be watched” but it looks good enough. It stars Selma Hyeck (whose uni-brow I believe is real-but don’t quote me on that one), and Alfred Molina as Diego Rivera, Kahlo’s husband. It was directed by Julie Taymor (Titus).

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently showing “Frida Kahlo,” in celebration of the Spanish artist’s birthday. It includes 40 paintings with a focus on her numerous self-portraits.

Frida trailer.

Girl With A Pearl Earring

Another I haven’t seen yet, but looks like I’ll give it a try. It is about the novel of the same name about the Dutch Baroque painter Johannes Vermeer and the mysterious girl in the famous painting.

Girl With A Pearl Earring trailer.