One of the worst movies I've ever seen

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The most important thing to know about this movie is it is unusually boring. I kept waiting for it to end. The curtain came down, the music soared, then it took off again, over and over and over, like some spoof of a Beethoven symphony endlessly ending.It mocks art and art critics with straw men situations, that might have been concocted by Archie Bunker. For example, Ron Perlman plays an obnoxious screaming queen art critic who mistakes the paintings of retarded children for high art. An artist displays an empty frame and slings BS about the deep inner meaning of its flatness.The plot: A young man with a rabidly homophobic father invades the home of a reclusive alcoholic artist demanding to be taught to paint. The artist lets him in, but just leaves him to paint. They snipe at each other, for what feels like weeks even though the movie fits on one DVD.The dialogue is nausea-inducing e.g. "clouds are where angels hide", "follow your dream".

I love to see movies come along that deal with artists and their craft. The Girl With The Pearl Earring or Vincent and Theo. Even enjoyed Art School Confidential because it hurt to laugh at the truth that was evident in the movie about a young, talented artist that has all his hopes and dreams beat out of him by the modern nonsense crowd at the school.But, I digress. Local Color is a lovely movie, again about a talented, young artist, looking for some guidance and mentorship from an aging Russian master. Getting his persistent foot in the door was harder than he imagined, but wedge it in he did. The movie follows their journey during a mid-70's summer, a journey that takes the young man deeper into the world of classical art and one that takes the old man out of his despair and drowning in the bottle of vodka in his hands at all times.Stahl and Morgan are great, going back and forth at each other, sometimes cutting deep into tender feelings, sometimes soothing those wounds. Perlman was fantastic in his role as the stuck-up, modern art snob and the dinner scene where he gets skewered is worth the price of admission all by itself.That is the scene that probably earned all the One Star ratings here. Those that think modern art is somehow relevant will not like that scene at all and will be slobbering all over themselves to get in here and write a scathing review. The rest of us that like real art will be howling with laughter when Curtis gets shown how big a fool he really is.I loved this movie so much I made sure to buy the DVD new so as to help the filmmaker, George Gallo, make another payment on that mortgage he took out to make the movie. You can find out about that at Artist Mentors Online.If you like good movies that don't have any gun play, no bloodshed, no gratuitous sex scenes, then this movie is for you. Oh, there is that one part where the 20-year-old guy kisses the 36-year-old woman, but I'm sure you'll live through it. What a cougar she could have been. It did get an R-rating, but that was for the use of the "F" word by the old man, but it sounded quite natural coming from him. So you probably won't want your little ones watching this one with you. Wait until they get to junior high school and can teach you even better cuss words.

POSITIVES - 1) It had a lot more humor than I expected, and the humorous parts were very funny. I laughed out loud quite a few times. 2) The acting was excellent, top to bottom. Armin Mueller-Stahl and Ron Perlman gave standout performances. Trevor Morgan very much held his own, and Ray Liotta was excellent in his brief role. 3) Although not entirely original, the story was highly engrossing and tightly held the interest of the audience. 4) The imagery was beautiful.NEGATIVES - 1) The story/themes were somewhat unoriginal, although the context of an artist was new. 2) The dialogue was a little cheesy at times, although the excellent acting was enough to overcome the sappier scenes.OVERALL - It was a very entertaining movie. Nothing strikingly original, but well executed. The film was funny, beautiful and touching, and I would highly recommend it.

John Talia, Jr. knows what he wants to do with his life. He also knows to really improve his talent he needs a mentor.Wisely he chooses the great Russian master, Nicoli Seroff.Big problem though, Nicoli has withdrawn from the world and wants to be left alone with his bottle of vodka.Angry, obnoxious and disappointed, Nicoli scares most people away. John perseveres and learns the best and the worst about what life has to offer.No Transformer-Robots here yet these two characters are transformed as they journey down a rocky road of friendship.At the end of the journey they are both ready to face with maturity the next portion of their lives.Do Not Miss This Movie!