Modigliani

The story of Modigliani is well-known. However, this film gives it life with a wonderful script, amazing cinematography, and mind-blowing performances by Andy Garcia and Elsa Zylberstein, a little-known French actress. I was glued to the screen from start to finish and have recommended it to everyone. If this film, Garcia, and Zylberstein don't receive Academy Award nominations, there's something wrong with Hollywood... at least more than is already wrong with it.

Run don't walk to the nearest theatre showing "Modigiliani". Forget the mega-publicized studio films being released now (Winter 2004-2005). See it while you can. It's a true find, and one that will stay with you long after you left the theatre.

I find Modigliani a movie worth to be seen! Some of you might consider it doesn't capture the real "spirit" of that era or that it's being put too much accent on the painter's madness and on his interior drama; but this is Modigliani in Mick Davis's conception, it's a movie not a documentary! The soundtrack is perfectly chosen to amplify the feelings transmitted by the excellent performance of the actors. It is more than a cinematographic production. It is a symbiosis between passion and love, human nature and vices. The memories of Amedeo about his childhood, the reproofs of "Modigliani-the little boy ", the incapacity of resisting to temptations and the permanent psychological pressure given by having such a rivalry have driven him to auto-destruction. It is the destiny of a man who passed away just a moment before tasting success... I consider Modigliani-the movie- art about art.

This movie is very much a mixed bag.. it's a good film. It's nice to watch, the acting is good, the direction is good and the story is engaging. But I feel it doesn't capture the real spirit of the era and the Paris artist community. It focuses too much on the immoral behavior and madness of the artists and leaves out the way these people viewed the world and their concepts of beauty. It's good the film tries to show the grittiness of it all, but there was so much more... i'd really would've liked to see more about what drove modigliani to paint as he did and what exactly drove him to destruction. This film only just touches on that...

it tries too much to please the American audience in their quest for standardized Hollywood stories, but on the other hand it tries to have a certain "artsy" flair that remains just polish because it lacks depth. Add to that some production-decisions that are a bit unfortunate, like the for any European obviously fake accents. They should've taken the original languages (french, Italian, Spanish, German) or English. Not this lame compromise..

Still you gotta see this. Not for an actual representation of modiglianis life or that era, just for it being a good film, dealing with passion, loyalty, madness, love and hate. See it for the atmosphere ,which although not accurate, is beautiful. See it for the good acting and the wonderful chemistry between modi and picasso. It could've been so much more but it is what it is.. good, intelligent entertainment.

This film must be considered an "Art" film - not a commercial film and you must watch it with different eyes.

Taking that tone - It was throughly enjoying and the sets, costumes and art direction were done extremely well. The casting and acting was excellent and believable but some scenes

were too drawn out. If the editing was a little better we would have a real winner. However I can recommend this film to anyone who loves art and painting. It really portrays the feelings of the artists and how they lived.

Go See It - You'll enjoy it!

It is a good biographical movie, even if it is obviously overdramatized. Andy Garcia again plays a charismatic , yet having abuse problems, which makes me wonder how he is in real life. Anyway, he did a great role.

Worth mentioning, the movie was shot in Romania, with a lot of Romanian actors. It was funny hearing "Ionel, Ionelule" sung in French, since it was all supposed to be happening in Paris.

Now, about the movie. It showed an overly emotional world of artists, highly competitive, yet in owe of one another. Being a rather technical, introverted guy, I cannot sympathize with any of the characters. They all did really stupid things for reasons I didn't understand. Yet the movie was definitely a good movie, although I guess it would have a greater impact on women and artists.

It is, after all, a drama, so don't expect a nice little film with a happy ending.