Critique/Review a Film about an Artist or Art. 2 pages (625 – 900 words), double-spaced with font size 11, Times New Roman or compatible font.  Submit through BB “Coursework” as Word Document o

Critique/Review a Film about an Artist or Art. 2 pages (625 – 900 words), double-spaced with font size 11, Times New Roman or compatible font.  Submit through BB “Coursework” as Word Document or a PDF. Standard MLA style.  Due March 27th by 11:59.

For this assignment you will have to seek out a film/movie/video that deals with the subject of the visual arts.  It can be a film about the life of a real artist, living or dead, or it can be about some aspect of the visual arts – a particular movement or culture, etc.  It can be a “commercial” film or a documentary.  There have been several commercial films done based on the lives of famous and not so famous artists. I have listed some below.  It can also be a film that deals with a story about someone in the field of art.  (For example:  The Julia Roberts film, “Mona Lisa Smile” is about an Art History professor at Wellesley College in the 1950’s)  You can rent a video/DVD or check one out at one of the local libraries or a number of these films are available on streaming services including NETFLIX, HULU, etc.  Your may also choose to view a documentary film.  If you check out the SIUE library online in the Library Information Services you will see a list of documentaries on Art.  Do a search of Subject:  Art, and it will pull up a long list of documentary films about art related topics.  If you choose a documentary there is only one criterion:  It has to be about the visual Arts and it has to be at least 45 minutes long.  (You’ll find a few videos available at the library that are shorter than that.)

​After you view the film write a 2 – 3 page critique of the film.  Briefly discuss what it was about; the plot, the main theme, overall message, etc.   Also critique it in terms of its “artistic” merits.  Did the cinematography enhance the story, what techniques were used to convey the story, were the actors believable, etc?  Then discuss what you learned from the film.  If it is a story about a particular artist for example you might talk about if the film helped you understand the artists work better, or how did the film makers incorporate the artist’s work into the film, where the artist got their inspiration, what was their art about, etc.?

Below is a list of some the commercial films about artists that you can find at most video rental places/and or some libraries.  I have several of these films in my collection so I’m happy to loan them out if you can’t locate something.  Obviously I can’t loan something to everyone.  Below is a list of possible commercial films for you to review:  

• “Exit Through the Gift Shop”​​​• “Girl with a Pearl Earring”

• “Artemisia” (Foreign Film/Subtitled)​• “Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of      

• “Surviving Picasso” (w/Anthony Hopkins)​                  Francis Bacon”

• “Frida”​• “Lust for Life”  (Van Gogh/ w/Kirk

• “Goya in Bordeaux” (Foreign Film/Subtitled)​                   Douglas) (1956)

• “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (Michelangelo) ​• “ Vincent and Theo”

•  “Rembrandt”​• “Pollock” (w/Ed Harris)

• “Camille Claudel” (Foreign Film/Subtitled)​• “Crumb”

• Basquait​• “The Highwaymen:  Florida’s Outsider