Tweet
Released by: Millenium Entertainment
Released on: August 23, 2011.
Director: Gregory W. Friedle
Cast: Robert Loggia, Gabriel Mann, David Thornton
Year: 2010
Purchase From Amazon
The Movie:
Apparently, one out of every three pieces of famous paintings in circulation is a fake. What it takes to become the kind of artist that would re-create another artist's work and why they would do so is at the heart of Fake, an at-times over-acted but nevertheless interesting story of one artist becoming the preeminent creator of fake copies.
That artist is Daniel (Gabriel Mann), a young artist consistently getting eclipsed by other, better artists. After suffering through yet another humiliating rejection he decides to paint a copy of a contemporary who's star is on the rise. Daniel thinks this will show up the snotty, out-of-touch art curators and make him some vengeful cash on the side. And, as it turns out, he finds this incredibly easy to do and starts to do so more and more. His fiancee Kelly (Jill Flint) eventually discovers this and, as someone whose job it is to spot fakes, leaves him in disgust but also doesn't reveal his crime.
Daniel begins to get cocky and is having a good run until he encounters Tay (David Thornton), an art curator with massive gambling debts and a sour temper. Needing lots of cash fast to cover his debts to local mob boss Seamus White (Robert Loggia, who really can't stop yelling now in his career) Tay sees Daniel's potential and the two enter into a very profitable partnership. It's going well until they pass off a fake to Seamus who, of course, spots the fake immediately somehow and starts yelling at his son, Patrick (Robert Clohessy), who in turn gets to yell at Tay and Daniel. But not missing a chance for illegality Seamus puts their enterprise under his guidance and takes his cut of their operation. Daniel soon sees the dead-end prospect of this and finally starts to regret his decision, overcoming his work of revenge on the ignorant art community.
Meanwhile, the existence of some of Daniel's fakes have been found out, kicking off an investigation by the FBI. Agent Kozinski (Fisher Stevens who yet again gives the best performance in the film) reaches out to Kelly and her expertise and because of her relationship with Daniel. Kozinski doesn't understand much about art so he asks for her detailed help which she willingly provides, only to soon discover the massive extent of Daniel's forgeries. But she soon finds the link to Seamus and this sets the FBI into action and they start to close down his illegal art copy operation, seemingly trapping hopeless Daniel, too, unless he can hatch one last crazy, desperate plan...
Video/Audio/Extras:
This DVD from Millenium comes in 1.78:1 and services that screen real estate pretty well. Some dark scenes get a bit too dark and the elements aren't separated well but that's understandable. The 5.1 surround track is also pretty good and English SDH subtitles are included and are well-implemented, too. Millenium just includes trailers for other releases as the only other extra here.
Summary:
A pretty well-done film about the mindset of an art forger and some dramatic repercussions thrown in for good measure. It suffers, really, from some straight-from-soap-opera performances and a criminally incomplete ending scene that provides zero closure. But, even with that, it's still a fairly entertaining drama.
