Movie Review - Painter (2020)

At first, I thought this film might be a modern-day or Millennial version of Amadeus (1984). When it comes to artistic rivalry, one artist being jealous of another who's more successful or more famous, the Oscar-winning classic starring F. Murray Abraham as the iconic Antonio Salieri is the prime example. Yet, the idea of competitiveness and envy go rather quickly out the window, as this film, written and directed by Cory Wexler Grant, really establishes itself as being more about a woman dealing with loss and grief through an intense and controlling relationship where she stands as a rather domineering mentor and surrogate mother-figure.

Betsy Randle (Boy Meets World and Home Improvement) is that domineering mentor named Joanne Marco. She's a wealthy widow with a passion for art, specifically painting, having done some of which in her past. She also had a late son who was a painter as well. Her mentoring is perhaps masking a kind of substitution she's doing with the young man with whom she attaches. She haunts her Los Angeles mansion like Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard (1950). Yet, it's her narrating in voice-over this twisted tale, not her presumed protégé. At first, she seems just a fan, supportive and adoring. Yet, Randle's performance at times suggest a bit of inspiration from Kathy Bates' character in Misery (1990).

Eric Ladin (Boardwalk Empire and The Killing) stars as Aldis Browne, an aspiring painter from Nebraska that's now based in California. It's not clear how old he is, but some of his work is being displayed in an art gallery for an exhibit called "30 Under 30." He's still relatively young, but he's struggling a bit. He lives in what's basically a garage. It's also where he does his work. He drives a crappy car with a broken door that occasionally doesn't start, requiring him to ride the bus. None of that stops him from having sex with various beautiful women. He has friends who are also artists or work in the art world. He doesn't appear to have much family. He also harbors a not-so-secret resentment and jealousy of one specific artist who is a veritable celebrity.

If this were Amadeus, Aldis would be this film's version of Antonio Salieri. Yet, Amadeus was about depicting Salieri living in Mozart's shadow in a more overt way. It was more mano-a-mano between Salieri and Mozart. That's not really the case here as we really don't see much of any of what would be this film's version of Mozart. As such, one forgets that the alleged jealousy theme even exists, even though the third act wants that jealousy to be such a big deal and driving force.

Casey Diedrick (In the Dark and Teen Wolf) is Ryan West, the aforementioned celebrity artist who is the object of Aldis' envy. It's not clear if he's a celebrity just in the art world or to the greater world at large. He does have paparazzi follow him around as if he's a pop star. He's set up to be the Mozart to Aldis' Salieri, but we only see him once in the first act. He's absent from the second act and then appears again in the last act. We only get a glimpse of one painting that he did. Other than that, we get nothing of Ryan's work or much of who he is. In the scene where we first hear Ryan speak, it's suggested that he's putting on an act, which is a question that isn't resolved. He tells a story of abuse that is put into doubt in the very next scene and that doubt is never laid to rest.

Something else that isn't laid to rest is the possible May-December romance or Oedipal one-night-stand between Aldis and Joanne. Of course, there's sexual tension that's established, particularly from a widowed woman leering at a handsome, younger man. Yet, unlike Aldis' encounters with other women, we never see Aldis and Joanne engaged in intercourse. The implication is that they did and its depiction would have provided the film the rare opportunity to show a sexagenarian woman who isn't Isabelle Huppert actually having sex. Nancy Meyers can't be the only director wading into those waters.

Unfortunately, there is no conversation about what their possible sexual encounter means, if anything. Maybe, it's simply meant to prime him to go along with her or bond him to her in ways that he wouldn't have imagined. I never really get what she does and what her involvement really does for him from an artistic standpoint. Joanne does provide him with studio space in her mansion, which is bigger than the garage where he currently works. Yet, it's not as if Aldis is doing huge canvases, so I don't get what having extra space will do for him. Plus, Aldis already got a placement in the art gallery Ludovic + Tole without Joanne's help, so again I don't get what she substantially does for his art.

Given that I am not a connoisseur of art, especially abstract art, I dare say I couldn't judge the art attributed to Aldis. I'm also not exactly sure that the film provides enough context clues to judge the work as well. Of course, Aldis seems confident of his own work. He also has Joanne's adoration. However, in one scene where an art critic has written a review deeming Aldis' work not that good, Aldis reacts negatively. I wasn't sure if that reaction was meant to be one of a man coming into the realization that his work isn't that good or if it was meant to be an example of elitist gatekeepers being unfair to him.

Both could be true, but if that's the case, then I don't think the film sells that contradiction all that well. Narration by the end indicates that none of it matters. Whether Aldis' art is good or whether the elite gatekeepers welcome him doesn't matter. If that's so, then Ryan's success remains inexplicable. According to this film what matters is capturing the imagination. There is an inference as to what that means in Aldis' case, but the ending isn't exactly clear as to how Aldis got to where he is in the penultimate scene of the film to where he is in the very last frame, which is arguably some time in the future.

It's all very vague. The film doesn't say anything definitive about artistic rivalry like Amadeus does. It doesn't say anything definitive about artistic mentors like Whiplash (2014). It doesn't have anything definitive or insightful to say about the elite gatekeepers like Velvet Buzzsaw (2019). If the film wants to be titillating or provocative, it misses the mark and ends up being only quite tame.

Not Rated but contains language, sexuality, nudity and even bloody violence.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 39 mins.

Available on VOD and digital platforms on October 13.