Daliland

I had no idea what to expect on viewing this movie, but I was not at all disappointed.

It was fantastic and so very well filmed.

We see little of the genius at work, instead what we have is a peek into the mind of Dali, and his followers.

The film reminds me that some people have minds that simply work differently from yours and mine.

The great geniuses see the world differently than we do. In other eras I am sure some of these geniuses would be unrecognized and cast out as insane.

And it has occurred to me that many such persons die early.

There is a price to pay for fame and genius.

Anyway, the acting was terrific, I actually felt like I was back in the 70s again in some of the scenes.

And the filming is most beautiful.

All in all a great movie that should be enjoyed by all.

I enjoyed this movie, but I doubt that many other people will. As a New Yorker who has worked in the arts, I know something about the milieu and the people depicted, so I had the background to appreciate it. But to most people, I think, it will be unintelligible. Basically, the situation is that a young and inexperienced would-be artist ("James") is hired to be an assistant to elderly surrealist Salvador Dali (Ben Kingsley), once an enfant terrible of the art world, now generally regarded by the cognoscenti as a has-been and a hack, despite being known and loved by the hoi polloi and a darling of the paparazzi. The assistant's duty is to keep Dali working. Dali is easily distracted by the constant bohemian circus going on around him. Dali's wife Gala (well-played by Barbara Sukowa) is really the one who pulls the strings. She collects and counts the money. She is also a horny old lady with a taste for beautiful young men. James (who is indeed a beautiful young man) is warned NOT to sleep with her and NOT to offend her. Dali, it turns out, doesn't really engage in sex himself. He is basically a voyeur and a masturbator. But he adores and depends on Gala. Gala's current paramour is an actor named Jeff Fenholt, who is playing the title role on Broadway in JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. There are other issues going on, like forgery and fraud, and money-laundering. It ought to be more interesting. But it's not. I think the main reason it doesn't work is that it's unstructured. Virtually everything is given the same weight. What's important doesn't stand out, but blends in with the scenery. Acting (especially Sukowa, Kingsley, and Chris Briney as James), art direction, cinematography, and music are all excellent, but who cares?

My Review - Daliland My Rating 7/10 Streaming on Foxtel

If I think of Salvador Dali I immediately think of the word bizarre and that's exactly how Oscar winner Ben Kingsley portrays the famous Spanish surrealist artist Dali.

This movie depicting Salvador Dali's final years with flashbacks to his youth when his younger self played by Ezra Miller meets his muse poet Gala who later in 1935 became his wife and greatest source of inspiration.

The movie begins in 1973 New York when a young handsome gallery assistant James Linton meets the famous 70 year old colourful eccentric artist Salvador Dali who refers to him from then on as Angel.

James Linton is played very effectively by Christopher Briney a fashionably charismatic slightly androgynous looking new actor who currently has a featured role as Aaron Samuels in the movie Mean Girls a teen musical.

The Dali's are both well past their prime but delight in giving extravagant parties attended by A list celebrities and the pop stars and models to be found at Studio 54 Gala played by Barbara Sukowa was apparently Salvador Dali's only sexual partner is described as having the "libido of an electric eel" Gala becomes infatuated with Jeff Fenholt played by Zachary Nachbar-Seckel whose fame is his role as Jesus on Broadway in Jesus Christ Superstar .

Dali invites Angel to assist him prepare for an important exhibition and they all return to Figueres in Spain which is Dali's birthplace.

This is the most interesting part of this movie as Dali revisits his youth when he first meets Gala and the relationships between the main characters develop.

I enjoyed seeing Rupert Graves again in Daliland playing Captain Moore who was Salvador Dali's business manager until he falls from grace .

I enjoyed Daliland directed by Mary Harron and written by John Walsh .

I must rewatch Little Ashes the 2008 movie starring Robert Pattinson as Dali which covers the young life of Salvador Dali .

I hope to visit the Salvador Dali museum this year in Figueres, Spain so these 2 movies greatly interested me .

You have seen this a million times before: young mangenue enters the magical world of X where things he couldn't have ever imagined change his vision of the world and inspire him to greatness. This time is a young beautiful boy from New York who gets to be part of Dali's world at the end of his career. And just like any young person he wants to feel special and part of something greater than himself, only to realize that it's all a facade behind which people are still regular old people.

The formula has been used again and again and again because it works, but you have to implement it in a way that captivates and inspires. You have to make art if you want to showcase art, even if it is a cheap copy of other great films in the genre you have to at least reach that level of competence. Unfortunately Daliland feels just as naive as the main character is supposed to be, wanting to be more than it is without effort and realizing no one thinks they're special. And funnily enough, the ending of the film does involve cheap knock-offs of Dali's work, which felt inadvertently hilarious.

Ben Kingsley is his usual good actor, without aspiring to greatness, Barbara Sukowa too, the rest of the cast are more props than anything else. And Christopher Briney is the perfect casting choice for the lead role: a pretty face. The sets are good, yet feel cheap all the same. The entire production feels a carbon copy of something better that you've seen before.

Bottom line: I don't recommend the film.

To the last scene , I was in serious doubts if Sir Ben Kingsley was the most inspired option for the role of Salvador Dali. And, indeed, I have serious reseves about this behind the end . But I am convince than he deserves this role.

But I admired the beautiful portrait of Gaa offered by Barbara Sukowa and the effort of Christopher Briney, like the interesting portrait of Amanda Lear or Rupert Graves as Captain Moore. Or cinematography . Few good points of film.

For admirers of Master, the film can sound as impolite. It is only...ironic,a film about art industry, court around a star, naivety becoming lucid discover of reality , a notebook with signatures , a pretty movie using the familiar recipe of young man discovering the univers of a kind of sacre monstre.

Reailsm ? Not exactly. Maybe, colors . Or only honest try to recreate a period and give coherence to the traits of a genius. With acceptable results.

In essence, a kick to discover the real Dali.