Bellas Artes

Someone had to talk about that... I don't know how close it is to the life and manners of art museums in Spain today, but the human context is clearly and comically photographed; it applies to any working environment with teams of people these days. I understand it can cause hives to some of the involved (psychologists say that it hurts when it cares) but let's face it: our societies have become that annoying! Beyond the sarcasm with which different daily situations in the museum are pointed out and, that ridiculousness and those annoying situations do happen, and every time more frequently.

The series may not be politically correct and technically impecable, but the great performances under a creative argument --though oily black-- deserve a look. Recommended.

Antonio Dumas (Oscar Martínez), a prestigious art historian and cultural manager, cultured and sophisticated, although quite cynical and conceited, is appointed director of an important contemporary art museum in Madrid, after emerging victorious in a competition for that position. In the first episode our protagonist must compete with two other candidates for the position of the museum, he takes it with indifference and a bit of superiority, due to the conditions that the jury demands for the square. Later in other episodes, the now director has confrontations with a presumptuous elderly painter (José Sacristán) and against the minister of culture (Ana Wagener). Once he has assumed his new position, and helped by Marisa (Aixa Villagrán) , the director's assistant, he will have to face, in the midst of the unusual fauna of the art world, a range of disparate circumstances and conflicts: from union problems and political pressures, to crazy situations in relation to exhibitions and artists. Furthermore, a collective exhibition causes a great sensation by placing a dead marine animal to denounce the lack of ecological conscience.

Bellas Artes is a comedy by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn written by Andrés Duprat. With multiple international awards, the three creators have addressed themes relating to art and culture throughout their filmography with sorification and their unique touch of acid humor. Among their latest movies are: ¨Official Competition¨, ¨The Man Next Door¨, ¨My masterpiece¨or ¨The Illustrious Citizen¨. As in their previous films , the pair of directors addresses in this film issues such as limits in the world of art, hypocrisy, ego, envy, and the prejudices that some artists have against others, the somewhat ridiculous modern art, issues that on this occasion revolve around the film process. It is easy to fall into the commonplaces of satire about how contemporary artistic representations can be interpreted, and in that sense the episode in which Antonio Dumas is forced to take care of his teenage grandson by taking him to the museum is interesting, which he takes advantage of to explain the meaning of some works. The boy is especially interested in two paintings that are, in fact, works by the artist Alejandro Cohn, brother of Mariano Cohn. In fact, a good part of the installations that appear in the museum have been created by Andrés Duprat and Gastón Duprat. Sometimes it seems that Bellas Artes tries so hard to craft its message that it forgets to develop its characters, so that satire is superimposed on the creation of a story that acquires a solid narrative meaning. But at the same time avoid being too cruel to that hypocritical, egocentric, bureaucratic and sometimes fraudulent world that art has become from an institutional perspective. What makes the series a diversion that prefers to remain in the comfortable playful aspect, rather than being truly incisive. It is particularly laconic in its humorous approach, avoiding overly long comedy sequences, preferring to rely on the phrase or concise comment without too much histrionics. Even usually exaggerated actors like Dani Rovira, who plays Josep, the protagonist's son, is especially restrained and serious.

Oscar Martinez is very good as the appointed director of an important contemporary art museum in Madrid faces a range of disparate conflicts and twisted circumstances. He is accompanied by the following: Aisa Villagrán (¨Vida perfecta¨, ¨La chica de la nieve¨), Ana Wagener (¨Contratiempo¨, ¨El Reino¨), Dani Rovira (¨Mediteraneo¨, ¨8 apellidos Vascos¨), Adelfa Cavo (¨La Isla Minima¨), among others, they are part of the spectacular cast. In addition, the special participation, among others, of José Sacristán (¨13 exorcismos¨), Melina Matthews (¨Negociador¨) and Ángela Molina (¨Ese oscuro objeto de deseo¨)

The series was competently directed by Gastón Duprat and Mariano Cohn, they formerly made some decent films. As they have directed a dozen movies, with which they obtained more than thirty international awards, among which stand out The Artist (2008) , The Man Next Door (2009), The Distinguished Citizen (2016), My Masterpiece (2018) and Official Competition (2020). Their big hit was ¨El ciudadano ilustre¨ (2016) , it was No. 1 at the box office Argentine comedy of the year , getting submission of Argentina for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 89th Academy Awards in 2017 and won several prizes and nominations , such as : Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Argentina 2016 Winner Award of the Argentinean Academy Best Actor Oscar Martínez , Best Supporting Actor Dady Brieva , Best Screenplay Original Andrés Duprat . Bellas Artes (12 epidodes 2024-2024) rating: 7/10.