Saturday 16 March 2013

Boogie Woogie


I describe Boogie Woogie as a satirical film rather than a comedy and which sets out to reveal the pretentious world of the contemporary art dealer and collector. A world in which vast sums of money change hands, older men attempt to seduced attractive young women and older women take up young artists, all familiar stuff and done before in various ways.

What makes this film interesting is the number of established actors who participate, including Christopher Lee, Joanna Lumley, Charlotte Rampling and the young Amanda Seyfried who came to the fore in Mama Mia and  only recently in Les Miserables. My problem is that I was not engaged by any of the characters or what happens to them, but more significantly the film is so unbalanced, throwing out the baby with the bath water. Of course the people who buy and sell artworks can become the subject of confidence tricksters; the sums of money exchanged are preposterous but no more than bankers or professional footballers and Hollywood film actors. and sex governs much of human activity, but contemporary art is important and most contemporary  artists serious people attempting to express themselves in a relevant, creative and original way foremost and earn a living secondary, much as most musicians, actors, writers and other creative artists.
 
There have been few serious film about Jazz and Jazz men and women.

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