Paint Review: A Wonderfully Constructed Canvas With Fun Characters and Dark Humor

Release date: December 15, 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Starring: Josh Caras, Olivia Luccardi, Paul Cooper 
Written and Directed By: Michael Walker

Three friends from art school struggle to start their careers in the bizarre NYC art world, while trying to get by in life and figure themselves out.  Dan (Caras) is trying to find deeper and darker places to inspire his work, Kelsey (Luccardi) is trying to be true to herself while hoping to pay rent, and Quinn (Cooper) is above it all.  But they all want to succeed and make it in this crazy scene, but they all go about it in very different ways.

Paint goes right into the wild art world and the image obsessed culture that it fosters.  The opening is perfect for this and I loved the symbolism and humor of it.  The film straddles a fine line between being darkly funny and dramatic.  It hovers on either side often enough that you just get used to towing that line.  The movie mainly follows three struggling artists who have different motivations for their art and ways to go about pursuing it.  And the film constantly goes between the three intertwining stories as they try and make it in the art world.  I really loved the premise of this film and the focus on the art world rather than on the art itself.  The film fosters the idea of image, connections, and reputation being a major part of an artist's success.  The central message is that lots of artists are talented but very few become big.  

And much of this success is because of the three leads and their very different performances.  I loved seeing how each of them pursue their dreams and the very different paths that they naturally took.  And in doing that the film goes to some very dramatic, dark places.  But that is part of the story and part of the charm of this movie.  It shows the art world as both an artistic melting pot but also a business.  Seeing some of the artists court potential buyers, and then try to figure out where to draw the line between business and pleasure, was an interesting one.  And watching one of the artist trying to intentionally suffer for their dream in order to find inspiration was an interesting angle.  But overall, this film is fresh take on the coming of age story, with a fun and interesting look at the world of high end art.  The movie does have a few places where the writing can be a little sappy, but it tightens up at the end and really finishes strong.  And through it all, it paints an entertaining, dark, and always interesting picture of this world.  

Paint's interesting characters, multiple story threads, and unapologetic look at the image-conscious art world paints a wonderful picture of dark humor and deep drama!

Watch it.

If you liked this review and want to see more from Watch or Pass, please consider 

following us on our various social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube. 

Paint is available digitally and on demand on December 15, 2020. 

For additional information about the film and to rent / buy it, check it out at the links below.

This site contains affiliate links. //Commerce or this site may be compensated when you click through links on our site.