Art show Bingo is about a young man named Wil who is torn between running his father’s business (a public storage facility) and pursuing his dream of becoming a painter. His brother, Orrie is also creative in that he is a documentary filmmaker. Art Show Bingo is about Will trying to pursue his dream of art, which is documented with film by his brother. The dad Simon has his own dreams that he wants to pursue and wants to turn his business over to his boys. Wil is frustrated that his dad doesn’t understand his passion for art. This movie was refreshing because while an indie film, it explored themes previously unvisited in film.
Wil tried to go to New York as a gallery painter with his girlfriend Susan but both his career and relationship do not work out. One day Susan returns to their hometown and sees Wil’s work she invites him to participate in a weekend art show. Susan clearly still has feelings for Wil and is impressed with his work. Wil declines the invite but his brother; Orrie encourages him to do it. They arrive to the show late, forget the entry fee and worse yet forget to bring a tent.
Once there he meets an eccentric group of artists all trying to sell their work at public events each weekend. Having participated in co-op galleries they really did a good job of capturing the diversity a quirkiness of the fellow artists. There is the Chief, a military veteran, who paints navy warships and Vic the rebel who creates extraordinary found object creations. He falls for one of the artists, Rachel, who is inspirational to him in pursuing his dream. She is the one that introduces him to the Art Show Bingo, a game that the artists use to pass the time and make it more entertaining for them. Rachel shares with him her veteran perspective on being an art fair artist, “Create, show repeat. It’s not a living, It’s a Life”. The other exhibiting artists help them get setup so they will not embarrass the show.
The art show captures the awkwardness that artists incur while trying to speak with possible patrons. As Wil is learning to sell his art, Orrie interviews the other artists and captures B-roll. Orrie is annoying and jeopardizes a number of relationships with the fellow artists for Wil.
As Rachel and Wil’s romance blooms, Orrie is secretly taping them for his documentary. Things come to head when Rachel discovers that she their romance has been a plot point for the documentary. Wil and Rachel’s romance is electric! Both of these are sure to be seen in major motion pictures in the future.
It is nice to see an art film not take itself too seriously. There are a lot of artistic stereotypes present including the elitist gallery curator. The humor and dialogue are great, it had very believable lines for the brothers. This movie has a great soundtrack featuring genuine indie tunes that will help relax and inspire you!
One of the most impressive things about the film is at the end they show and name the actual artist who created the artwork for the characters in the film. This is the first time I have seen this and it was great to see artists get their due credit that they deserve!
