The Graffiti Artist
Allegro (2004)
Drama, Queer Themes/Interest
In Collection
#426
5*
Seen ItYes
(5/15/2016 Home)
656605906324
IMDB   6.0
80 mins USA / English
DVD  Region 1   NR (Not Rated)
Ruben Bansie-Snellman
Pepper Fajans
Natascha Snellman
Director
James Bolton


Adrift in the lush, nocturnal urban landscape of THE GRAFFITI ARTIST, Nick (Ruben Bansie-Snellman) is a post-modern urban hero asserting his anarchistic agenda on the endless maze of virgin exterior walls that comprise downtown Seattle and Portland. For this iconoclastic young visionary, the vast wall surfaces of deserted alleys and train yards are at once a daunting symbol of capitalist oppression and a texturally rich, seamless tableau ripe for exploitation to amplify his artistic dialectic of anger and rebellion.
Edition Details
Distributor Blank Stare
Release Date 5/3/2005
Packaging Keep Case
Screen Ratio Fullscreen (4:3)
Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 [English]
Dolby Digital Stereo [English]
No. of Discs/Tapes 1
Personal Details
Purchase Date 5/8/2016
Location Personal Library
Owner Deitz
Store EBay
Purchase Price $14.00
Condition Used - Required Cleaning
Links NYT on Graffiti Artists
The Graffiti Artist at Core for Movies
IMDB
TheMovieDb.org
References
Streaming, VoD Not Found
Lists ‡ IMDb Best Gay Themed by Metonymy
IMDb Voters <500

Notes
Almost no dialog -- a portait of a young, alienated, gay artist obsessed with his graffiti, and his brief love affair with a fellow, less fervent, artist. While I felt empathy with the youth, I also felt the futility. When does his expressive passion become pathological? The director suggests that he seeks fame and an acknowledgment of self worth, but by whom? His work and tags mostly are in infrequently visited sites, and, to most viewers, are vandalism. Is that the point?
A nitpick, but nevertheles a bothersome detail. How does a street person with no money and few friends maintain such a professionally looking haircut? I guess our emphathy for the character depends upon how conventionally well groomed and good-looking he is? And he seems to have but one facial expression -- extreme melancholy -- even when in the passion of sex.