DJ Geribo

This week I watched a movie that I heard about on Robert Genn's Painters Post. I'm always looking for movies about artists and this one sounded like a good story. Here is my quick review....


An alcoholic Russian master artist, Nikolai, and an idealistic young emerging artist, John, are the central characters in this thought provoking movie. When John learns that Nikolai lives in his town he pays him an unsolicited visit. Nikolai, a cynical and disillusioned artist who once created impressionistic masterpieces and now only find solace in a bottle of vodka, turns the boy away, again and again. Not to be discouraged, John slowly works his way into Nikolai's heart. John wants nothing more than to learn from the master - Nikolai sees the boy's potential and finally invites him to his summer house in PA. But John soon discovers that Nikolai's invitation was self-serving as he is given one chore after another - the only thing John is painting is the front porch. As the movie progresses you learn about Nikolai's disgust with the art world; he's told that no one wants representational art anymore and when a friend asks him to judge an artshow of non-representational art, he declares it all crap and puts the blue ribbon on a standing fan declaring that it is the only thing that works. But slowly, John wins Nikolai's friendship and even inspires Nikolai to take up his paintbrushes again. The guidance and lessons John learned that summer followed him throughout his life.