Walking out of the Downer Theatre, I thought more about missed opportunities than the solid character study I had just watched. The subject, art forger/philanthropist Mark Landis, offers the audience candid responses in the middle of a film that is trying to be a little too slick. Often times, I feel like this new school of documentary filmmakers make cookie-cutter sensationalist pieces, and director Sam Cullman occasionally falls into that mode of filmmaking, but there is enough decent work to override his mistakes. Art and Craft could have been a great documentary if they would have pulled the camera back a bit and shifted it’s critical eye towards the art world which obviously loves Mark Landis and his beautiful forgeries. Instead, we are left with a totally watchable, albeit light, documentary that is destined to thrive on a platform like Netflix.
Art and Craft
Art and Craft
58%
Bottom Line Art and Craft could have been a great documentary if they would have pulled the camera back a bit and shifted it's critical eye towards the art world which obviously loves Mark Landis and his beautiful forgeries.