Rent Daliland (2022)

Passable but Flawed Messy Biopic of a Pioneering Surrealist Artist who Became a Parody of Himself - Daliland review by PV

I sort of liked this - a flawed film, fore sure, maybe because the writer is the director's husband, and oh-so-cosy set-ups like that rarely lead to well-edited scripts or movies - usually too much flab and meandering is the result, as here. Focus lacking. An independent editor needed for the script, to 'kill the darlings' and het rid of extraneous scenes.

The plot here is a young innocent gallery worker Dali nicknamed San Sebastian (one of many young men & women chosen by the Dalis supposedly for sexual purposes - this nis 1974 New York, so not illegal or ignored if it was). Definitely exploitative. Christopher Briney is EXCELLENT as the lead, really - he'd only acted on one other film too (MEAN GIRLS) which I shall watch now.

The plot, and all narrative films need them, hangs on the dodgy dealings of Dali prints in 1970s, which could be classes as fraud, with Dali signing many pages of blank paper to ship on to various parties to photocopy paintings on - the difference between a lithograph and off-set printing and photocopies is explored here. And all Dali's signatures. I do wonder how many supposed 'Dali' pictures hanging in posh homes and galleries are mere photocopies now! Modern Art is Rubbish - as Blur said... AND as Banksy shows, art is ALL about money now.

Most fascinating for me was not cabaret act show-off Dali or even Alice Cooper, who the actor captures well in his pre-golfing days, but Dali's Russian wife played by Barbara Sukowa. Should have got a supporting actress nomination or won it for this performance. Dali's wife was 10 years older than him, a well-off Russian from a family of intellectuals, in France/Paris from

Rupert Graves is here as he is in lots of TV series now (incl Midsomer Murders and more) as a 60+ greying paunchy man but he'll forever be the ebullient young man/teen in Room with a View in cinema history.

So this film is not as bad as some reviews claim but maybe mostly for art lovers. I was very frustrated the actual paintings were not shown - copyright issues, I suspect, the galleries said NO or demanded too much dosh. A shame. His CHRIST OF ST JOHN ON THE CROSS from 1951 is sublime, a truly original take on a crucifixion alter piece. From above. After that and esp in 1960s/70s/80s, Dali became a parody of himself, a cabaret act. Silly lobster phones and dressing up as an Arab (the middle class Dali son of a rich lawyer claimed Moorish decent).

THE GREAT MASTURBATOR (1929) with the melting faces and clocks in a desert - so influential. Dali in his younger days was a massively influential artist, one of the founders of surrealism, all the melting clocks etc (done cleverly here with the early day scene of cheese melting in the heat of southern Spain). The relationship with fascist Franco and Spain is not mentioned at all though - Dali stayed strictly neutral despite friendship with Lorca, the Republican poet murdered by the fascists.

His CHRIST OF ST JOHN ON THE CROSS from 1951 is sublime, a truly original take on a crucifixion alter piece. From above. Dali also got involved in film, doing sets for Hitchcock's SPELLBOUND (1945) and before that Un Chien Andalou, 1929 French silent short film directed by Luis Buñuel, who co-wrote the screenplay with Salvador Dalí.

Worth a watch, 3 stars.

Soft Porn dressed up as an "arts" film - Daliland review by AS

Despite a fine acting performance by Ben Kingsley, this film is a soft porn disaster, unless of course you are looking to goggle at Soft Porn. Maybe that's what Dali was really about -- I don't know, I never met him.

Despite some good costumes & sets, this is a dull biopic about an artist who was anything but - Daliland review by TB

After American Psycho, I would watch anything Mary Harron directed/wrote/produced. Her latest effort, Daliland, should be right up her street: extremely idiosyncratic & difficult artistic genius, who was known as much for his highly unconventional personal life as for the masterpieces he came up with. But despite this rich vault of cinematic potential, the main feeling I had whilst watching it was boredom.

For example, I don't remember seeing another film which showed excesses of drugs, parties & debauchery being so dull. A threesome so uninspired, you wonder what the onlooking Dali found so exciting about it. Whilst there has been many films made about the put-upon assistant to the difficult/demanding protagonist, these can often descend into naval-gazing.

There is some good set designs & costumes, plus the production department does an incredible job of turning Liverpool into an authentic & believable stand-in for 70's New York City. I also liked the way it was shot, with a soft focus & colour palette.

As for the performances, Christopher Briney does his best, channelling blue-eyed innocence with a subtle iron-will to immerse himself in the orbit of Dali & his entourage, but he never manages to be anything more than mediocre. Ben Kingsley, a powerhouse actor and capable of sledgehammer-impactful performances (Sexy Beast,) here plays Dali as a narcissistic & incredibly difficult artistic genius filled with various ticks & idiosyncrasies.

And whilst I have no doubt that that was probably what Dali was like, watching it without a good story behind it is just tiresome. If I wanted to watch a spoilt brat being fawned over by various acolytes, I can just put Trump's name into YouTube...