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Director John McNaughton, in a departure from his narrative work (HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER, WILD THINGS), attempts to get inside the head of painter George Condo. McNaughton and Condo collaborated on the form of the piece, though it’s unclear what exactly their joint “written by” credit means on a documentary. If it is intended to indicate that they scripted what Condo would say to McNaughton’s camera, this isn’t readily apparent - and neither is the gist of what they intend to tell us about the artist’s work.

Much of Condo’s paintings center around what he calls “antipodal beings,” creatures that exist in the outer reaches (or antipodes) of the imagination. Rendered by Condo, the “antipods” look sort of like a cross between the big-eyed, kitschy children of Keane and some of Dr. Seuss’ odder inventions. The film returns again and again to a portrait of one such “antipod” Condo calls Big Red, as he adds, subtracts, starts over and details it.

The end result is an artwork that is inarguably well-rendered and has an intriguing air of comic wistfulness, but hardly seems able to bear the metaphysical and metaphorical meanings that CONDO PAINTING heaps onto it. The film treats the painting as though it has an empirical narrative quality, which Condo expounds upon at some length. We understand that he’s painting what his imagination shows him and that he’s willing to work until he can externalize what he sees in his mind’s eye, but this is a general assumption about all proficient artists - by itself, it’s not an especially profound observation.

Condo asserts that the Mona Lisa and, for instance, Granny from THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES have a similar sort of cultural resonance. To this end, he cuts out faces of photos of TV actors in their best-known roles (Irene Ryan as Granny, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in I LOVE LUCY) and painstakingly pastes them into art books over renderings of classical artwork. It’s a joke that gets old well before the film finishes playing with it. Likewise, having Patrick Achdjian cavorting in a suit as a 3-D Big Red, his face obscured by primary-colored hair like a psychedelic Cousin It, shows the filmmakers having a good time indulging themselves without enlightening or even amusing us past the first few seconds.

McNaughton plays with a bag of cinematic tricks, occasionally using effects to create translucent, fuzzy images from the High-8 videotape (transferred to 35mm for the theatrical release). The optical gimmicks look cool for a couple of minutes, but eventually starts to seem like simply experimenting with the medium for its own sake rather than commenting on or enhancing any specific aspect of what we’re seeing. Otherwise, McNaughton gets some great shots and demonstrates again that it’s possible to get a gritty-looking, but releasable, print from a video original.

Once in awhile, CONDO PAINTING makes the odd thought-provoking point - seeing Condo prepare his palette is instructive and it’s charming to see his proud mother showing off her son’s already-skillful childhood efforts. The film also contains some unique footage of William S. Burroughs and Allan Ginsberg (both friends of Condo’s) shortly before their deaths and boasts several original Danny Elfman compositions. Fans of Condo (and/or Burroughs and Ginsberg) may be pleased to spend 87 minutes with their hero.

For the rest of us, CONDO PAINTING is a bit like being invited along on an outing with people you don’t know very well and then having to listen to them pepper each other with in-jokes and banal private business for the duration. ---Abbie Bernstein - iF Magazine (http://ifmagazine.ifctv.com)

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originally posted: 03/19/00 13:59:17
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