| With Artcity entering its second week, your tired feet might need a break before you head out to tackle Artwalk (which runs September 18 to 19). In the meantime, if you want to keep yourself art-minded (and you can’t afford a trip to the Museum of Modern Art or the Louvre), you can now satisfy your need for both a sweeping cinematic epic and exposure to the great art of the western world in the comfort of your own home. Here are a few possibilities.
· Lust for Life (Vincente Minelli, 1956): The film is based on the book by Irving Stone, itself based largely on Vincent van Gogh’s own letters to his brother and benefactor, Theo. Kirk Douglas plays an earnestly nutty van Gogh, who spends a lot of time gazing meaningfully into the middle distance. Anthony Quinn’s larger-than-life Paul Gauguin fits easily into the larger-than-life production.
· The Agony and the Ecstasy (Carol Reed, 1965): A chapter from the other epic tome by Stone about the life of Michelangelo Buonarroti. Charlton Heston as a petulant Michelangelo begrudgingly decorates the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel for a strangely British Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) until the paint brushes have to be pried from his cold, dead hands. Rife with historical inaccuracies and Academy Award nominations.
· Vincent and Theo (Robert Altman, 1990): Messier (and therefore more authentic?) than Lust for Life. Van Gogh’s (Tim Roth) artistic development is almost secondary to a focus on the parallels and polarities between him and his brother (Paul Rhys). Ponderous, yet powerful. Or you can try to find a copy of Leonard Nimoy’s (yep) stage performance Vincent (A&E).
· Basquiat (Julian Schnabel [who was there] 1996): A portrait of the 1980s New York art scene and the emergence of Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeffrey Wright), a graffiti artist who had a swift rise and fatal fall. David Bowie plays Andy Warhol with affectionate glee.
· Artemisia (Agnes Merlet, 1997): A French take on the story of Artemisia Gentileschi (Valentina Cervi), a 17th-century Italian painter, that reveals almost as much about the fresco process as it does flesh. Gives one version of a controversial chapter in the artist’s life, in which a tutor may have enlightened her on more than pictorial composition.
· Pollock (Ed Harris, 2000): Harris plays Jackson Pollock, the tortured star of Abstract Expressionism, and is robbed of his rightful Academy Award. It’s a fabulous depiction of the 1950s New York art scene, darling, including such hallowed personalities as Clement Greenberg and Peggy Guggenheim.
· Frida (Julie Taymor, 2002): Gorgeously filmed and acted, Frida reveals the autobiography in Kahlo’s art by occasionally punctuating the action with tableaux based on her paintings. Salma Hayek as Frida Kahlo shows she can play more than a sexpot.
· The Girl with the Pearl Earring (Peter Webber, 2003): Playing the maid who is said to have modelled for the famous painting of the film’s title, Scarlett Johanson carries the strangled plot away on her pneumatic lips while Johannes Vermeer (Colin Firth) glowers in the meticulous set.
And briefly, before the orchestra builds to a crescendo and I am hustled from the awards podium:
· I Shot Andy Warhol (Mary Harron, 1996): Sex, drugs, militant feminism and The Factory.
· Surviving Picasso (James Ivory, 1996): Anthony Hopkins as Pablo, in sun-drenched scenes that detail his beastly treatment of the women in his life.
· Love is the Devil (John Maybury, 1998): Follows British painter Francis Bacon and his lover in late-’60s, early-’70s London.
· Goya in Bordeaux (Carlos Saura, 1999): The last years of Francisco Goya (Francisco Rabal). Guess where? |
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