A rising star in the world of art isn't all that he seems in this satiric comedy from Argentina. Jorge Ramirez (Sergio Pangaro) is an imaginative young artist who approaches Losada (Enrique Gagliese), the curator of the prestigious gallery, with a portfolio of his drawings in hopes of showing his work. Losada is impressed with Jorge's sketches, but is curious about his previous work; when Jorge presents him with a C.V. detailing a promising career to date, Losada presents a selection of his pieces, which attracts the attention of local sophisticates and art-lovers. However, Jorge isn't actually an artist -- his biography is a complete fabrication, and the sketches he's given to Losada are actually the work of Romano (Alberto Laiseca), a scatterbrained patient at the home for the elderly where Jorge is an orderly. Jorge has cleverly been able to pass off the old man's work as his own and sell it as something new an innovative, but the more his star rises in the creative community, the more trouble he has explaining his creative perspective. El Artista (aka The Artist) was directed by Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat; Andres Duprat, who has a background as a museum curator, co-wrote the screenplay.
by Mark Deming
synopsis
