Simply A Masterpiece

Overrated

One of my all time favorites.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This documentary is so powerful to me. I had never been introduced to this type of art before and made me realize how important it is to have an open mind when your goal in life is to discover, learn and connect. For example, one of the landmark pieces Marina is known for is where she sits in front of someone for an incredibly long time, day after day, for weeks, months. I looked at this and was struck with thoughts dominated by puzzlement and judgement. It was weird and silly to me, until I let myself think about it. Think about where the artist is coming from. I thought about my own situation where looking people in the eyes is incredibly difficult and the idea of coming to a space where this woman is sitting, taking a seat in front her, then meeting her eyes became profound. It also made it clear to me that sometimes in order to appreciate something so radically different from what a person is used to or familiar with, the time in a person's life, what has come before, and what a person is tuned in to all become so vital in the outcome of whether the person listens, or immediately dismisses. I was able to let myself make a connection with what it is Marina is trying to do with her art and it came alive for me, all at once. The documentary itself is beautifully done, you can tell it was a production made with love and devotion to its subject. It goes into Marina's history in performance art through interviews and old footage, and is framed by the massive preparations for a show held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. One of my new favorite documentaries. http://funkyforestfirstcontact.wordpress.com/

As we move around the world, giving only the attention we can spare to the people we love and less to the people we don't know, it is easy to forget that every living being needs our whole focus when asked for it. I've never been a big fan of performance art -- ambivalent, really -- but this piece, by the end, had me sitting on the edge of my bed with tears rolling down my cheeks as I marveled at the simplicity and perfection of the final exhibition at MoMA. What a beautiful soul. So affecting just to see on a small TV screen, I can't imagine having been there, personally, to witness it.Ms. Abramovic has tested the limits of her stamina, her courage, her nature and her ability to express love, unconditionally, throughout her life as an artist. Watching her give to strangers what we so selfishly horde from our most intimate kin, was inspiring. Genuine art touches you and leaves a mark. You may be enraged, uncomfortable, disgusted, enamored, in awe... whatever the impact, art makes you FEEL. If it doesn't make you feel, it's just decoration. Marina Abramovic's work -- it really makes you feel.Thank you, Ms. Abramovic.

Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present is a rather detailed documentary about the exhibition of the same name at MoMA in 2010. It won't change your opinion about it, though. Whether you agree that Marina is the "grandmother of performance art" or you feel that contemporary art is nothing but hot air, those points of view are left unchallenged.There is little background information about the artist, which should be standard for a movie determined to address a much wider audience than art aficionados. So we're left with a lot of people asserting Marina's importance for the history of arts and some archive footage to corroborate that.There's no doubt The Artist Is Present is as a milestone for the arts of the 21st century, but at this point a movie about it is just another documentary.By the way, my favorite moment is when in the background of an interview a visitor to the exhibition asked which one of the two sitting was Marina. How imperceptible must you be to visit a museum where walls of each room are covered with photos and videos of the artist and not recognize her? Or was it just another consumer who's been told not to miss the event? After all, someone in the movie mentioned "market for Marina's work" and she admitted liking life's simple pleasures, such as shopping designer clothes in Paris...

This is a documentary about how long it took for Marina Abramovic to get famous. It's a long view of a life lived in art and for art and then suddenly, late in life, to discover that all those years spent in obscurity are finally paying off. That's interesting. But that's all the documentary is about. Why is her art worthy? What has been the arc of her life's work? How has it evolved? I might as well have watched a film about Kim Kardashian and the nature of fame. This is more an adulation of fame itself than an analysis of the power of art. Very disappointing. The frame for the film is the build up to her most famous work, The Artist is Present, at MOMA, where, individually, members of the public were allowed to sit in a chair opposite Ms. Abramovic and stare into her face. The impact of this experience seems to have been profound. Ms. Abramovic's face is magnificent, filled with pain, deep silence and supreme mystery. She did this every day for three months. The sheer fortitude that this must have taken is astounding. The amount of raw emotion that she must have absorbed is exhausting just to think about. To have heard her speak on camera about this experience would have been fascinating. But instead we get a facile look at the least interesting aspect of her life; the fact that she is now famous. I'm glad for her but it's a small, mundane detail of a life lived with far more complexity than this documentary affords her.