MOVIE REVIEW: (UNTITLED)

The art world is funny-and so is this film.

There’s good art, there’s bad art, and then there’s just absurd art. Guess which one would make the most interesting movie plot?

(Untitled) examines the contemporary art and avant-garde music worlds, poking fun at a scene that takes itself way too seriously—and in the process, poses some very big questions about what, exactly, it means to be an artist.

The film, directed by Jonathan Parker, follows brooding composer Adrian (Adam Goldberg), his commercial artist brother Josh (Eion Bailey), and Madeleine, the passionate owner of a trendy Chelsea gallery (Marley Shelton). The two men represent the dueling sides in the art world: creativity versus commercialism. While Josh’s pastel, hotel lobby-ready paintings sell well but don’t look good, Adrian’s cacophonic orchestrations draw in just a handful of listeners.

Though it’s hard to put up with Goldberg’s character, whose mixture of self-pity and narcissism is mind-blowing, Marley Shelton’s Madeleine is both fascinating and complex. From her noisy outfits to her choice in artists, she’s a portrait of a passionate woman who’s just trying to stay true to herself.

If the characters don’t make you laugh, the art they’re making will; from a 10-minute composition featuring a can being kicked over and over to a conceptual art piece involving a gallery wall and a single pushpin, the jokes in (Untitled) just write themselves.
REBECCA WILLA DAVIS



This story was published on October 23, 2009.