The contemporary art market—collectors, dealers and artists alike—sets itself up for mockery. It’s hard to top Damien Hirst and his formaldehyde shark for absurdity, but Duncan Ward’s droll comedy Boogie Woogie (out on DVD and Blu-ray) certainly nails the denizens of this expensively healed, socially irresponsible uber kulture.
Like a Robert Altman film, Boogie Woogie meanders between interconnected cliques. The titular Mondrian painting isn’t exactly at the center of this de-centered picture but pads in and out as a reminder of a time when Modernism stirred hope for a new world, not a new fashion season. The cast is pretty much A-List, but the most interesting actors to watch are Danny Huston, who elevates the sometimes flat proceedings as a supercilious London dealer with a pointedly artificial laugh, and Christopher Lee as the aging tycoon whose trophy wife begs him to sell the Mondrian. The offers between rival dealers keep climbing.
