Film & TV Lunch Club: May 2024 - Art in Film
Film & TV Lunch Club: May 2024 - Art in Film
Showing Up, Final Portrait, Frida
I feel I need to preface this post by declaring my stance on film as a medium: I absolutely think that film itself is art. However, we are looking at art in film this month.
The theme was inspired by the 200th anniversary of the National Gallery in London, which opened its doors to the public on 10 May 1824. If you are one of the lucky people who got tickets to the ‘Big Birthday Weekend Late and Light Show’ I am really jealous! Check out the NG200 events on the official site for more info about how they are marking the occasion: www.nationalgallery.org.uk.
We live in a country that is so rich is culture, yet sometimes I can’t help but feel that the arts generally is overlooked and undervalued. And this is backed up by recent local funding cuts which has directly impacted arts venues across the country and will be hugely damaging to cities, communities and the people in them. So as we celebrate art within film, I hope this month’s shortlist and longlist is a reminder of how wonderful it is, how enriching it can be, and of the various ways it can better our lives.
Filmmakers have long looked to art for inspiration, and there are many examples of films that reference paintings, pay homage to masterpieces, not to mention the films that look at the lives of the artists themselves - there are at least eight feature films about Van Gogh alone. So in many ways we are spoilt for choice this month!
You may be thinking that Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire would have been a perfect pick this month (and you would be 100% correct in your thinking), but it was in the September 2023 selection so is too recent to choose again. I have still included it in the longlist though and encourage anyone who hasn’t seen it, to watch it as soon as possible - it is undeniably a true work of art!
Here are this month’s picks…
🎞 May Selection 🎞
Showing Up Official Trailer | Dir. Kelly Reichardt | A24
Showing Up (2022; Dir. Kelly Reichardt)
A sculptor preparing to open a new show tries to work amidst the daily dramas of family and friends.
Rent or buy from Apple, Amazon, Sky and other online stores.
Final Portrait (2017; Dir. Stanley Tucci)
The story of Swiss painter and sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Rent from £2.49 on Rakuten and other online stores.
Frida (2024; Dir. Carla Gutierrez)
A raw and magical journey into the life of iconic artist Frida Kahlo, told through her own words from diaries, letters, essays, and interviews. Vividly brought to life with lyrical animation inspired by her unforgettable artwork.
Stream on Amazon Prime.
🎬 The Long List: Optional Extras 🎬
Other notable films suggested for the theme:
Skyfall - James Bond's loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. When MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. (Features J.M.W. Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire)
Scream - A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game. (Inspired by Edvard Munch’s The Scream)
Pennies from Heaven - During the Great Depression, a sheet-music salesman seeks to escape his dreary life through popular music and a love affair with an innocent schoolteacher. (Resemblance to Edward Hopper’s 1942 painting Nighthawks)
Pierrot Le Fou - Pierrot escapes his boring society and travels from Paris to the Mediterranean Sea with Marianne, a girl chased by hit-men from Algeria. They lead an unorthodox life, always on the run. (Features Picasso’s Portrait de Sylvette and Jacqueline aux fleurs).
Call Me By Your Name - In 1980s Italy, romance blossoms between a seventeen-year-old student and the older man hired as his father's research assistant. (Features Eduardo Arroyo’s Roland Garros 1981 French Open poster and more).
Dreams - A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams. (Reference to Wheatfield with Crows by Vincent Van Gogh).
The Dreamers - A young American studying in Paris in 1968 strikes up a friendship with a French brother and sister. Set against the background of the '68 Paris student riots.
Personal Shopper - A personal shopper in Paris refuses to leave the city until she makes contact with her twin brother who previously died there. Her life becomes more complicated when a mysterious person contacts her via text message.
Salvador Dalí - The reunion of two art geniuses: the Pop Art master Andy Warhol directs the master of Surrealism Salvador Dalí in this short film where the Spanish artist pays a visit to The Factory where he gets the chance to meet rock group The Velvet Underground.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire - On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.
The Square - A prestigious Stockholm museum's chief art curator finds himself in times of both professional and personal crisis as he attempts to set up a controversial new exhibit.
Mr Turner - An exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner's life.
Loving Vincent - In a story depicted in oil painted animation, a young man comes to the last hometown of painter Vincent van Gogh to deliver the troubled artist's final letter and ends up investigating his final days there.
Big Eyes - A drama about the awakening of painter Margaret Keane, her phenomenal success in the 1950s, and the subsequent legal difficulties she had with her husband, who claimed credit for her works in the 1960s.
Little Women - Jo March reflects back and forth on her life, telling the beloved story of the March sisters - four young women, each determined to live life on her own terms.
The Art of Getting By - George, a lonely and fatalistic teen who has made it all the way to his senior year without ever having done a real day of work, is befriended by Sally, a popular but complicated girl who recognizes in him a kindred spirit.
Basquiat - The brief life of Jean Michel Basquiat, a world renowned New York street artist struggling with fame, drugs and his identity.
Exit Through the Gift Shop - Following the style of some of the world's most prolific street artists, an amateur filmmaker makes a foray into the art world.
🔜 Next Month 🔜
The theme for JUNE will be CAMP OUT since it’s National Camping Month! Feel free to give me your thoughts about this post or the next one in the comments or on Insta! I’d love to know what you’ve been watching.