Paint

Directed by Michael Walker, Paint follows three friends (Josh Caras’ Dan, Olivia Luccardi’s Kelsey, and Paul Cooper’s Quinn) as they attempt to find their place in the art world shortly after graduating college. Filmmaker Walker, working from his own screenplay, delivers an appealing drama that benefits substantially from the top-notch work of its three stars, with the actors’ solid efforts here heightened by the mostly compelling scenarios in which Walker places their respective characters. (It’s difficult, certainly, not to get a kick out the subplot revolving around Dan’s fairly insane decision to paint a nude portrait of his own mother, Amy Hargreaves’ Leslie.) The movie’s compulsively affable atmosphere goes a long way towards smoothing over its few less-than-successful stretches, including a closing half hour that contains a few too many melodramatic outbursts, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that Walker does a superb job of capturing (and poking fun at) New York City’s art scene and its myriad of oddball figures. (There is, for example, a fun digression involving Kelsey’s short-lived relationship with David Patrick Kelly’s grizzled, down-on-his-luck artist.) The strong finale ensures that Paint concludes on a memorable, satisfying note, to be sure, with the end result a perpetually watchable endeavor that offers a fascinating peek into a seriously strange world.

*** out of ****