Well Deserved Praise

Waste of time

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

From the scene in the framing store I was already brewing with curiosity about this story line. (Ray Liotta)John Talia Sr. and his son John Jr. played by Trevor Morgan enter the local framing store. John Jr. wants to be a painter. His passions overflowing with curiosity over the arts. John Jr.recognizes a painting by an artist Nicoli Seroff in which the owner Yammi has just framed. The young impressionable youth asked further if he knows the great virtuoso of the canvas and Yammi in a matter-of-fact tone response, "Of course." John Jr.inquires further but his Dad tells Junior not to pry and leave this alone but husky Yammi intercedes and says he knows the famous painter. Yammi gives the boy an address of Nicoli Seroff. John Jr. drives over to the residence. Like a panic-stricken little boy dawdles,hesitates and just down right prolongs ringing the front doorbell of this master of the canvas. Finally John rings the bell and the elderly man opens the screen as John asks, Are you Nicoli Seroff? Nicoli looked annoyed as John stumbled a few compliments and Seroff could care less. To the great artist it could have been a boy selling him magazines . He wanted no part of him. John saw his chance to learn from one of the great masters. Looking for a personal mentor so to speak. Seroff told the poor soul to get lost despite his complimentary praises. Back to the framing store as Yammi (Charles Durning) calls Seroff to sort of give the kid an introduction explaining he's an aspiring artist. Back to the Home of Seroff as the boy brings his paintings and puts them across the porch for Seroff to observe,critic and get his perspective. Seroff gave his opinion saying there was some talent but he doesn't teach and said goodbye again.Frustrated John attempts a new approach to his goal of unlocking the secrets of a great master . The only way through a man's heart is a good bottle of vodka as the two go inside and Seroff begins to loosen up and give his feelings and opinions on how an artist can convey his sensitivity from brush to canvas. Seroff offers his summer home in Pennsylvania and what comes about he can't promise to the delight of the amazed teen. Now how does John explain this to Dad? John Jr. enters the house and tells his Father about his plan of spending the summer with this estranged painter. John Sr. rants that you don't know what his motives are. John Sr. went on to imply pedophilia. Beside he wanted Junior to work with him this summer and save up for Art school in the fall. Against his fathers demands John went over to Seroff's house and off went the two in a station wagon to rural Pennsylvania. The repartee between John and Seroff is distance at first in addition to Seroffs wry sense of humor. As the film progresses it's hard to distinguish when Seroff is serious or frivolous. The basic premise of Seroff's credo is that life is hopeless but John tells him that he must share his talent but Seroff insists that you haven't had life thrown at you yet. The cinematography by Michael Negin was superb with vibrant colors shouting at the screen as we watch the trees, clouds and fields of a summer's afternoon just waiting to put on the young artists canvas. They settle in this country home as John performs chores around the house and I see a parallel Karate Kid Movie brewing. But the film thankfully goes in a different direction as Seroff opens up his paint brushes and feeling of lost love and the meaning of life to the young novice. In return Junior shares his innocence with the crusty old painter. Other characters are introduced in this breath taking countryside. Ron Pearlman as the local art critic who comes and visits socially from time to time. Next store neighbor the attractive Carla (Samantha Mathis) who has along term friendship with Seroff. Just the kind of film you get lost in the long summer days of yesteryear. Wondering if John can find his way in painting and life and Seroff could come to terms with his grief.Director/writer George Gallo's personal life story on his earlier days learning the craft of painting shared with you,the viewer. The casting of Armin Mueller-Stahl was brilliant. An accomplished writer, Painter and musician in his own right Stahl comes to life on the screen as in tribute to both the creator and the actor. You can learn from this picture but really examine the objects closely.

If you like patriotic movies, in which it is said that you must be thankful for living in the USA, because the rest of the world is really awful, if you like stereotypes, if you think that the Germans are always the bad guys and Russians have vodka for breakfast, if you think that contemporary art is crap and only realistic painting is real art and if you like artificial dialogs that are never spoken in real life, then this film is for you.And I am saying all this even though I normally actually like movies that people classify as "art movies", like many European films use to be!My humble opinion: Boring.

Director George Gallo crafts an emotional journey of discovery and heartfelt wisdom filled with characters and performances as colorful as the paintings at the heart of the story. Vibrant, sentimental, and full of life, Local Color reveals the passion and influences behind the creation of an artist, and with poignant revelations and dabs of brilliant humor, art imitates life as much as life becomes art. In 1974 New York, young John Talia (Trevor Morgan) aspires to be a painter, and against the wishes of his overbearing father (Ray Liotta), travels to Pennsylvania with elderly genius artist Nicholi Seroff (Armin Mueller-Stahl) to learn the master's techniques. However, the cantankerous alcoholic painter's tortured past leaves him with little joy in his heart and the tenuous relationship between the two rises and falters throughout the summer, but through encounters with such diverse characters as the art aficionado Curtis Sunday (Ron Perlman) and the captivating country girl Carla (Samantha Mathis), John learns several valuable lessons about life and art from Nicholi, and the irritable Russian becomes invigorated in his passion as he once was so long ago.Knockout performances by Armin Mueller-Stahl, Samantha Mathis and Ron Perlman are the true highlights of the film. Stahl embodies the broken down Russian painter Nicholi with uncanny realism and authenticity. Based on a real person, Seroff, whom Director Gallo chose to leave anonymous for legal reasons, actually spoke with overbearingly crude language and a never-ending bottle of vodka in his hand. But those idiosyncrasies translate beautifully to the screen, and his performance is unmatched. Mathis is outstanding as the mysterious and distraught neighbor, Perlman makes a hilarious appearance as an overly flamboyant art aficionado and Ray Liotta plays the homophobic father – with such a humorous blend of zany characters, Local Color has a surprisingly refreshing degree of comedy, which breaks up its slow pace and tranquil subject matter. While Local Color's story and acting are its most redeeming factors, the most peculiar piece of the film is its narration. Opening with the voice-over of an older man explaining his journey through life, the audience immediately assumes the story will be a flashback. Instead, this same character, the older version of Talia, continues to narrate at key points in the film - except that we never get to see who is behind the voice. Several shots focus on young Trevor Morgan's face as the voice continues to speak - we know it's him reminiscing about his experiences, but we are never allowed to make that connection, since we never even seen Morgan as an old man. It's obvious what is going on, and yet the disassociation is prominently distracting.Gallo brings to life the story of his own youth and the mentor who guided him in his dreams of becoming a painter. His fervent passion for both art and film-making (and the casting of several exceptional actors) has culminated in a film both poignantly moving and surprisingly humorous. Showcasing idealism and realism amidst characters taken from his own experiences, the story behind the making of Local Color is as aspiring as the film itself. Working without studio support, the crew still acquired several notable actors and was able to shoot the entire film in only 18 days. Several of the producers, and even Gallo himself, took out mortgages on their homes to help fund the film, and much of the talent agreed to participate simply out of admiration of the script and the shared passion to tell Gallo's remarkable story.The Massie Twins

I enjoyed the movie very much, emotionally, intellectually, and visually. It contains no violence or sex or drugs or special effects, and doesn't need them one bit, holding my attention the entire time with the visuals, story, and interspersed words of wisdom.However: [1] some of the foreign language accents made the dialog difficult to hear & understand; [2] there is unnecessary overuse of swearing (especially the F-word, which is the only reason this movie was rated R). [3] The movie is balanced with humor and emotion, but most of the emotion that holds you throughout the film, except the final resolution last minutes, is unpleasant due to the exaggerated long-lasting dysfunctional reaction of some of the characters to loss, living in the depths of bitterness and depression for too long. [4] I will not recommend this movie because of 5-seconds of background narration, which did not add one bit to the side-character it applied to, or the film -- it only turned me off to the movie and stuck in my brain through the whole movie and afterward: the main character's mother of German ancestry, when watching old WWII movies, "secretly roots for the Germans." There would be no "local color" or art if the Nazi's won the war. I don't know of any Germans today except radical skinheads who think the world would be a better place if the Nazi's won WWII.