Waiting for the Artist

My parents are Hungarian and I grew up around Hungarians. Hungarian accents in movies/shows never are close. Sometimes they are completely unrecognizable, like Kevin Pollak in "The Whole 9 Yards". Cate Blanchettes was awesome. I totally smiled when she said gas(gaz) correctly. Although everyone else mis-pronounced Budapest (Buda-pesht) which usually only happens if you have never been there. Also she talks about living in communist Hungary but they do not explain how she was able to do her art let alone how she escaped to travel all around Europe before the fall of the iron curtain. Still 9 points for nailing the accent and the ending.

First of all Cate Blanchett, as always is perfect. I've seen the original documentary and I've seen this. I was able to enjoy the documentary and still find this funny. Those that take themselves too seriously will give this one star and say how terrible and and disrespectful this is to the real artist. This is not true. It's called a sense of humor, it's called satire, and there are four seasons of this show because apparently many people find it funny.

If you don't understand satire then of course you will think this is disrespectful to the real artist but it's not. This episode is poking fun at all kinds of different artists that are all weird in their own way. Just like Spinal Tap basically satires all hard rock bands. It's the same thing. Ever seen SNL? Same thing. So if you have deep feelings for the real artist and/or cannot take a joke, I would suggest that you skip this episode.

I thought I really liked this show but then this episode shows up; it's now one of my favorite episodes, of any show, ever. I loved Cate Blanchett before but now she's pretty much my favorite actress of all time (I adore how she got a shout out in these reviews from an actual Hungarian)!

No amount of vapid bloviation from other reviewers of this episode should top you from seeing it. Brilliant! It's PARAODY! And it is parody well done; skewering the idea that sitting in a chair or on a toilet is "art."

I have watched The Artist is Present and it was beautiful. Having said that, this isn't so much a parody of that film as it is a different song set to the same tune, and in that respect it's sweet, hilarious, and perfect. The art pieces range from absurd to nearly as thoughtful as those in the original film this episode uses as inspiration. One should watch it entirely as well before committing to an opinion because the end may be one of Documentary Now!'s best endings to date (and that's set among some very strong contenders.) This series is a treasure.