These musings regarding the recent Garden Thieves Pictures DVD release of the documentary "Victori: The Truth Just Can't Be One Thing" is the first of two entries in a "Jersey? Sure!" set of reviews. The second title is a wonderfully trashy Garden Thieves release titled "Sweet Lorraine" with former American sweetheart Tatum O'Neal as the titular tough broad wife of a New Jersey political candidate.
The primary claim to fame of South Korean-born portrait artist Victor Victori is painting the official White House portrait of Richard Nixon. A Jersey mall gallery is the venue of Victor at the time of the film.
The documentary largely focuses on the efforts of 20-something former Wolf Cub of Wall Street Ed Victori to use his business acumen to promote the art career of his father. Participating in a New York City Art Expo. is a primary element of this campaign. Ed further takes the audience on a literal tour of the New Jersey sites, including a Victori museum, that are significant to the career of his father.
Watching Ed on his cell phone trying to direct his parents to the loading dock at the Expo. is amusing and supports the theory that parents seem incapable of grasping information from their adult children.
The elder Victori displays the actual art for the audience and discusses some of his better-known subjects, including Donald Trump. Hearing Victor share the reaction of Trump to that portrait provides some of the best humor in the film.
The style of the work itself is a tricky subject. To this untrained eye, it looks like motel/mid-level office building art that lacks any appeal. However, the subjective nature of art makes discussing it great fun.
It is fair to say that Victor displays unwarranted hubris in speculating both that the value of his work will soar in the future and that the same type of delayed recognition of the talents of Van Gogh and Monet is likely to reach him. A similar moment has Victori proudly displaying a seemingly endless number of copies of Mona Lisa that he has painted.
The Expo. itself provides good fodder for the film; seeing the other exhibitors discuss the displayed pieces is entertaining.
Assessing "Victori" the film is as tough as evaluating Victori the artist. Neither he nor his son seem particularly engaging, but the presented story is adequately interesting to hold your attention. In that respect, it can be considered a pedestrian mall gallery quality documentary.
Anyone with questions or comments regarding "Victori" is welcome to email me; you can also connect on Twitter via @tvdvdguy.
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