"VENICE PROJECT" AN ARTHOUSE GEM

 

By: David Stratton, Reuters, 09-15-99 02:55

The Venice Project (Drama, Austria-U.S., color, no rating,

1:26)

 

VENICE(Variety) -Filmed in three weeks during Juna at the

Venice Biennale and in the villa belonging to Venetian

aristocrat Count Volpi, "The Venice Project" earns full

marks for getting to the screen in near record time.

 

A last-minute noncompeting addition to the Venice film fest

program, pic is a genuine curiosity, a playful item about

the past and the future of art, decked out with an alluring

cast plus a few celebrities from literature, the visual

arts and even politics. Result is a highly specialized

item that will appeal to a limited section of art lovers,

indicating a very spotty theatrical career; ancillary, though,

looks to be very promising.

 

Cluttered with characters, some of whose dialogue appears

to be improvised, "Project" has the feel of one of those

Henry Jaglom films in which the sum total is rarely as

interesting as individual components. There are treasurable

moments here, but also long stretches of indulgence.

Flitting back and forth between 1699 and 1999 adds to the

interest.

 

Pic begins quite charmingly with Dennis Hopper addressing

the camera: "If you can see and hear me now, we made it to

the next century." Well, not quite, but probably by the

time most of the audience for the film see it the millennium

will be upon us. Hopper plays Roland, who lives in Venice,

Calif., and dabbles in way-out art while his older sister,

Countess Camilla Volta (Lauren Bacall), lives in style in

the family's ancient palazzo in Venice, Italy. Amazingly,

the viscount (John Wood), father of the siblings, still lives,

but barily: Before slipping into a coma he donated, most

annoingly for the children, his home and art treasures

to the Italian state.

 

Roland has arrived to attend his sister's grand party,

which is to be held in conjunction with the last Biennale

of the millennium, and he brings with him his most daring

piece of art -- a so-called Art Confessional, a gold-

colored edifice into which celebrities and others are

encoureged to sit and talk to a video camera about their

theories on art -- with the guarantee that their ideas

will not be seen publicly for 100 years.

 

Meanwhile, in flashbacks to 1699, an ancestor of Roland

and Camilla, Count Giaccomo (Linus Roache) asks his

advisers, including Salvatore (Hopper again) to predict

the future of art; his jester, Gippo (Stuart Townsend)

proposes that future art will be abstract and experimental

-- like that currently creatad by lunaticcs -- he's thrown

into the Grand Canal for his pains. Roache and Townsend

both appear in the modern scenes, the former as a relative

of the family, the latter as the fun-loving Lark, who's

having an affair with the pert family maid (lovely Mia

Maestro in a Louise Brooks haircut). Lark predicts a

future for invisible art -- if you can't see it, he says,

you can't buy or control it.

 

Also involved are Stockard Channing as an art dealer,

Dean Stockwell as a U.S. senator, Hector Babenco as a film

director and Anna Galiena as the palazzo's beautiful chef,

plus many others. A running gag has Cheech Marin, playing

himself, constantly denied entry to the palazzo by a

snooty doorman.

 

Script by Nicholas Klein ("The End of Violence") is

decidedly patchy, with many of the points made in labored

fashion. Of the confessors who speak direct to the camera,

Lauren Hutton contributes one of the best comments: "Art

makes me high, and it's legal."

 

Ultimately, pic is a plea for open minds when it comes to

new directions in art and director Robert Dornhelm (whose

previous work includes "Echo Park" and the excellent

"Requiem for Dominic") states his case quite amusingly.

But for too much of the film the viewer is like an uninvited

guest at a very elegant party, not quite privy to what's

been said, and made to feel a little self-conscious about

it.

 

Technical credits are fine, given the rushed post-production

schedule.