Master Stroke: Local Color

Local Color (TFF 2006) is a quiet, lovely movie about ideas, art, and coming of age, with gorgeous scenery and some understatedly powerhouse acting from the likes of the always-compelling Armin Mueller-Stahl (most recently seen in Angels & Demons and The International). After a successful life on the festival circuit, Local Color is finally wending its way to theaters, starting with the Quad Cinema in New York this Friday (July 3).

Set in the summer of 1974, the film centers on the unlikely friendship that develops between Nicoli (Mueller-Stahl), a retired Russian artist, and John (relative newcomer Trevor Morgan), a young man with raw talent as a painter and an enthusiasm for art that rejuvenates the old man’s spirits. Along the way, the two (and others, including a pretentiously fey Ron Perlman) consider, debate, and argue art theory, modernism, and ways of viewing the world. Set against the backdrop of Pennsylvania farm country (Wyeths, anyone?), the characters are dealing with a range of personal pain, from the aftermath of war to the loss of loved ones to general adolescent malaise. Of course, there’s a love interest (the just-enough-older Samantha Mathis) and a hard-nosed father (Ray Liotta) for John to contend with, and contend he does.

All in all, this semi-autobiographical offering from writer/director George Gallo (most notably, the writer of the hilariously classic Midnight Run) covers a lot of ground: it's both a contemplative look at how innocence and experience can complement each other and a testament to the power art has to expand the mind, heighten the senses, and make the world a little brighter.

Watch the trailer:


 

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