29/09/2009

The Secret of Dorian Gray (1970)

Richard Todd plays artist Basil Hallward







Dorian Gray on IMDB

Dorian Gray (2009)

Ben Chaplin plays artist Basil Hallward





Dorian Gray on IMDB

When a naïve young Dorian (Ben Barnes) arrives in Victorian London he is swept into a social whirlwind by the charismatic Lord Henry Wotton (Colin Firth), who introduces Dorian to the hedonistic pleasures of the city. Henry’s friend, society artist Basil Hallward (Ben Chaplin) paints a portrait of Dorian to capture the full power of his youthful beauty. When the portrait is unveiled, Dorian makes a flippant pledge: he would give anything to stay as he is in the picture - even his soul.

Dorian meets and falls in love with young budding actress Sibyl Vane (Rachel Hurd-Wood) and after a matter of a few weeks proposes, but after Henry tells Dorian that having children is 'the beginning of the end' Dorian and Sibyl argue and he leaves her, the next day discovering that she has killed herself. His initial grief disappears as Henry persuades him that all events are mere experiences and without consequence, and his hedonistic lifestyle worsens, distancing him from a concerned Basil. Dorian goes home to find the portrait of himself warped and twisted and realises that his pledge has come true; while the portrait ages he remains ever-youthful, while his sins show as physical defects on the canvas. The chaos of the picture of Dorian Gray starts.
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28/09/2009

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Javier Bardem plays artist Juan Antonio Gonzalo


Vicky Cristina Barcelona on IMDB



'Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) visit Barcelona for the summer, staying with Vicky's distant relative Judy (Patricia Clarkson) and her husband, Mark Nash (Kevin Dunn). A narrator (voice of Christopher Evan Welch), present throughout the film, describes the two friends: Vicky is practical and traditional in her approach to love and commitment, and is engaged to the reliable but unromantic Doug (Chris Messina). She is in Barcelona getting her masters in "Catalan identity". Cristina, on the other hand, is a nonconformist, spontaneous but unsure of what she wants from life or love.

At an art exhibition, they notice the artist Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem). Cristina is impressed with him at first sight, and grows intrigued when Judy and Mark tell the girls that the artist has suffered a publicly violent relationship with his ex-wife. Later that night, the girls notice him across the room in a restaurant. He approaches their table and quickly invites them to join him for the weekend in the city of Oviedo, in the small plane he flies himself, for sight-seeing, drinking wine, and (Juan Antonio hopes) sex. Cristina accepts the brazen offer almost at once, but Vicky refuses, strongly resenting his assumption that the two of them would agree to go to bed with him after less than five minutes' acquaintance. She eventually decides to accompany her friend anyway, mainly as she says "to protect Cristina from making a big mistake".'
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27/09/2009

Vargtimmen aka Hour of The Wolf (1968)

Max von Sydow plays artist Johan Borg



Vargtimmen on IMDB



'Johan Borg (von Sydow) is a painter who is haunted by what seem to be demons. He only tells his wife Alma (Ullman) about them, and his fear make him unable to sleep. He and Alma stay up during parts of the night, especially "The Hour of the Wolf", during which, it is said, most people either are born or die. In other scenes, we are shown examples of Borg's bizarre behaviour, which lead the viewer to question Borg's sanity.

Borg has given names to some of his demons, like "the birdman" or "the lady with the hat". He is approached by a baron, von Merkens (Josephson), who lives in a nearby castle. The painter and his wife Alma visit them and their strange household, but it is not clear whether or not they actually exist.'
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26/09/2009

Two Evil Eyes aka Due occhi diabolici (1990)

Harvey Keitel plays photographer/artist Roderick Usher (segment "The Black Cat")








Two Evil Eyes on IMDB

"The Black Cat"

Rod Usher makes his entrance in a building decorated with the abject remains of dismantled corpses. A naked woman lies bound to a table, sliced in two by a huge pendulum-like blade. Rod is a professional crime scene photographer for as he puts it: "still life’s my art," a talent which ensures that he is frequently called upon the local authorities, led by Detective LeGrand to document the horrors of the baroque crime scenes which are apparently commonplace in Pittsburgh where Rod lives.

After arriving home at a semi-fancy row house, Rod works in his darkroom in the basement developing the photos when his work is interrupted by the appearance of a mysterious black cat, which has apparently been adopted by his live-in girlfriend Annabel. Rod and Annabel’s relationship is uncomfortably distant. Annabel is delicate, sensitive, and somewhat ethereal, while Rod is a rough, burly, brutish man who seem more at home with the gritty hyper-reality of crime scenes that he is with Annabel’s talk of witches and superstition. Annabel, in contrast to Rod, is a professional violinist who gives private lessons to local high school students who show up at the house after their school classes, and she even takes some of them on excursions to local opera houses to watch the arts of life.

Over the next several days, a strong antipathy grows between Rod and the mysterious cat, a situation worsened by Annabel’s excessive protection of it. Driven to distraction by the cat’s apparent hatred of him, Rod eventually strangles it during a photo shoot he has set up with the cat being the center of attention. Rod then uses the photos of him strangling the cat to post on the cover of his newest photography book titled Metropolitan Horrors, a lurid collection of his most revolting pictures. As Annabel begins to guess the truth about what has happened to her pet cat, the couple embarks on a series of violent arguments, one of which ends with Rod falling into an alcohol-induced sleep where he has a nightmare about participating in a Medieval Pagan festival where he is executed for the murder of the cat.

One day, when Annabel finally spots his book in a shop window, with the strangled body of her much-loved cat on the front cover, she immediatly arrives home and makes plans to leave Rod, who at that very moment is in a local bar drinking heavily. Rod becomes unnerved when the barmaid Eleanora gives him a stray black cat which is identical to Annabel’s own cat. Rod notices that the inky feline has an identical white marking on it’s chest (an obscure white patch which seems to resemble the shape of a gallows). Rod brings the cat home and sets about to kill the feline once and for all. But Annabel intervenes and comes to it’s rescue causing a confrontation which ends in her gruesome and gory death when Rod hacks her to death with a meat cleaver. After shaking off his suspicious next door neighbor and landlord, Mr. Pym, who arrives after hearing the argument, Rod assures him that nothing is wrong.

Confident that he can escape detection, Rod conceals the body behind a wall in the house and invents a story to explain Annabel’s disappearance to her music students, Betty and Christian, when they show up the next day for their violin lessons. But after a confrontation with Christian who expresses doubt and suspicion to Rod about his story of Annabel leaving him, he confides in Mr. and Mrs. Pym about his suspicions that Rod might have killed Annabel. When Annabel’s friend in New York keeps phoning the house to ask of her whereabouts, Rod becomes increasingly trapped by his own increasing elaborate web of lies. The situation is exacerbated by yet another appearance of the black cat. But this time, Rod ensures it’s death by slicing it in two with a saw, and disposes of it in a garbage dump.

The next day, Detective LeGrand arrives with his partner to question Rod about Annabel’s whereabouts. Despite their stern questioning, Rod is not phased by their questions. After looking around the house, the detectives leave, but immediately come back when an eerie, distorted mewing sound is heard echoing though one of the walls. Rod is handcuffed and the fake wall of that he put up is torn down and his crime scene is finally revealed. It reveals that the ever troublesome feline had given birth in Annabel’s tomb and its offspring are now feasting on the remains of their mistress. Not to be outdone, Rod grabs the pickaxe from LeGrand's partner and in seconds hacks apart both policemen. But handcuffed and in a panic, Rod tries to make his escape when his neighbors show up after nearing the commotion, pounding on the front door. Rod tries to make his escape from the house by climbing out a second floor window using a rope to tie around a tree in his backyard. But his plan fails when he gets tangled up in the rope and he slips, the rope tightening around his neck killing him. The black cat makes a final appearance and stares at the premonition sight that Rod had coming for him.
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22/09/2009

Sirens (1993)

Sam Neill plays artist Norman Lindsay





bottom four images from

Sirens on IMDB

'The film stars Grant as Tony, an Anglican priest newly arrived from England, asked to visit a notorious artist, played here by Sam Neill, out of the church's concern about a blasphemous painting the artist plans to exhibit.

Estella, the priest's wife (played by Tara Fitzgerald), accompanies him on the visit to the artist's bucolic compound in the Blue Mountains. The artist's saucy models are played by Elle Macpherson and Kate Fischer; Lindsay's wife, Rose (Pamela Rabe) also poses for him. Portia de Rossi (in her film debut) plays the maid who has just begun demurely modeling for him as well. Mark Gerber plays the partially blind Devlin, the "odd-job" man who also poses for Lindsay.

While both Grant and Neill play characters critical to the film's story, the film is really about Estella, who responds to the sensuality of her surroundings over the course of her visit to Lindsay's estate. Her relationship with Tony includes the intimacy and commitment needed in a well-rounded marriage, but is missing the passion, in all of that term's senses.'
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20/09/2009

Laura aka Shattered Innocence (1979)

James Mitchell plays artist sculptor Paul Thomas Wyler



Laura on IMDB

'James Mitchell plays Paul Wyler, a successful sculptor best known for sculpting nude young girls. When he encounters an old flame, Sarah (Maud Adams), he is so smitten by her beautiful daughter Laura that he asks Sarah if she will pose for him. Sarah, married but still jealous of the fact that her former lover is more attracted to her daughter, tells Paul that Laura is not interested, even though she is actually quite enthusiastic about doing it. As an alternative to live posing, Sarah takes photos of Laura posing nude and gives them to Paul so that he can sculpt Laura. After a fire at an art exhibit, though, Paul goes blind and cannot complete the sculpture. In the end, Laura, when going to say goodbye to Paul, allows him to finish his work by feeling her body and sculpting by feeling. This leads to a sexual encounter between the two, and the next morning Laura's mother comes to take her away.'
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19/09/2009

Love Jones (1997)

Nia Long plays photographer Nina Mosley


Love Jones on IMDB



What do you do after love at first sight? That's the question posed in this romantic comedy-drama set in Chicago. Darius Lovehall (Larenz Tate) is a poet who is giving a reading at the Sanctuary, an upscale night club presenting jazz and poetry to a bohemian clientele. Shortly before his set, he meets Nina Mosley (Nia Long), a gifted photographer who has just lost her job. They exchange small talk, and Darius makes his interest clear when he retitles a love poem A Blues For Nina. A mutual attraction is sparked between them, and Darius invites himself back to her place to persistently ask her out.
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15/09/2009

P.S. (2004)

Topher Grace plays artist F. Scott Feinstadt

P.S. on IMDB

'Thirty-nine-year old divorcée Louise Harrington works in the admissions office at Columbia University School of the Arts. She is unnerved when she receives an application from F. Scott Feinstadt, the same name of her high school sweetheart who was killed in a car crash, and calls the student to arrange an interview. His appearance, mannerisms, and painting style closely resemble those of her former love, and she begins to suspect the young artist may be the reincarnation of her old flame.'
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14/09/2009

Bullet (1996)

Adrien Brody plays artist Ruby Stein
Bullet on IMDB

'Bullet is the story of Butch "Bullet" Stein (Mickey Rourke), who leaves prison after serving an 8-year term. But he soon ends up going back to his old ways when he rips off a heroin dealer and falls back into his drug habits. He returns home to his dysfunctional Jewish family, including his mentally ill, Vietnam-veteran brother Lewis (Ted Levine), and esteemed artist brother Ruby (Adrien Brody).'
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13/09/2009

Cocktail (1988)

Elisabeth Shue plays artist Jordan Mooney






Tom Cruise knocks over a sculpture in fight at a gallery


Cocktail on IMDB

'Tom Cruise plays Flanagan who, taking advice from his former girlfriend, takes a job in Jamaica as a bartender to raise money for his own place; far away from the hustle, bustle and poetic yuppies of Manhattan. He finds a romantic partner in Jordan Mooney (Elisabeth Shue). Jordan is an aspiring artist from New York who, for now, works as a waitress. She and Brian fall for each other. Doug shows up in Jamaica, now married to Kerry, a wealthy woman (Kelly Lynch), who openly flirts with other men. He quickly asserts himself and bets Brian to sleep with a barfly named Bonnie (Lisa Banes), a wealthy older woman. Jordan catches Brian in the act and is devastated. She takes an overnight plane home to New York City.'
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10/09/2009

Calendar Girl (1947)

James Ellison plays artist Steve Adams







Gus Schilling plays artist Ed Gaskin



Calendar Girl on IMDB


'Calendar Girl is a 1947 musical comedy film which tells the story of two best friends from Boston who come to Greenwich Village in 1900, one to become a famous artist, the other to become a famous composer. The composer falls in love with the girl next door, but she is intrigued by his friend, who has secrets he feels he doesn't need to share with her.'
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07/09/2009

Invitation to the Dance (1956)

Igor Youskevitch plays The Artist


Invitation to the Dance on IMDB



'An anthology film consisting of three distinct stories, all starring and directed by Gene Kelly. The second segment, "Ring Around the Rosy", set to original music by André Previn, tells several romantic stories tied by the exchange of a gold bracelet. The bracelet is originally given by a husband (David Paltenghi) to his wife Daphne Dale. She gives the ring to a flirtatious artist (Youskevitch), at a party, infuriating the husband, who stalks off. The artist gives the bracelet to a model (Claude Bessy), and the bracelet changes hands through various performers, eventually returning to the husband, who reunites with his wife.'
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06/09/2009

Blur (2007)

Salvator Xuereb plays artist Adrian Jonas







Blur on IMDB

Artist Adrian Jonas is preparing for a big show and begins to have premonitions that something very bad will happen to his lover.