Boogie Woogie (film)

Boogie Woogie is a 2009 British black comedy[1] film directed by Duncan Ward and produced by Eric Eisner and Leonid Rozhetskin. It is based on the novel of the same name by Danny Moynihan, who adapted his own book on the New York art world of the 1990s[2] and titled it based on the Piet Mondrian painting Victory Boogie-Woogie.[3]

Boogie Woogie
UK theatrical release poster
Directed byDuncan Ward
Produced by
Screenplay byDanny Moynihan
Based onBoogie Woogie
by Danny Moynihan
Starring
Music byJanusz Podrazik
CinematographyJohn Mathieson
Edited byKant Pan
Production
companies
  • The Works International
  • Constance Media
  • Firefly Films
  • Muse Productions
  • P&C Arcade Films
  • Piccadilly Pictures
  • Autonomous
  • Colourframe
  • S Films
Distributed byVertigo Films
Release date
  • 26 June 2009 (2009-06-26) (EIFF)
  • 16 April 2010 (2010-04-16) (United Kingdom)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$6 million
Box office$47,527

The film stars Gillian Anderson, Alan Cumming, Heather Graham, Danny Huston, Christopher Lee, Joanna Lumley, Charlotte Rampling, Amanda Seyfried, Stellan Skarsgård and Jaime Winstone. It premiered on 26 June 2009 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.[4]

Plot

Boogie Woogie is a comedy of manners, its cast of characters devouring each other in a small world awash with big money. Set against the backdrop of contemporary London and the international art scene, it casts an eye over the appetites and morality of some of its major players. Dealers, collectors, artists, and wannabes vie with each other in a world in which success and downfall rest on a thin edge.

Cast

Production

I hoped it would be a film from the start, and even wrote it in an Altman-esque way, like Short Cuts, but it took ten years.

Moynihan, on his novel and the film.[3]

Danny Moynihan's novel for Boogie Woogie was published in 2000, based on his hedonistic New York years.[3]

Dennis Hopper originally held the option to adapt the novel into a screenplay for a film to be set in New York City; later, Moynihan's friend, Duncan Ward, a documentary film-maker, became involved, with Rachel Weisz agreeing to play the "central, nubile gallerist" role eventually portrayed by Graham.[3]

After Weisz dropped out, producers switched the film's location to London for cost reasons; Moynihan "discovered then-unknown Amanda Seyfried living around the corner in Chelsea" and got her cast as an "art-world nymphet"; Charlotte Rampling, a family friend of Moynihan's, got a cameo appearance.[3] Principal photography took place in London in December 2006.[5]

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 33% based on 24 critic reviews, with an average rating of 4.38/10.[6]

Richard Claytonin a Sunday Times article about the film that focuses on "who inspired its unsavoury characters"called it "The Devil Wears Prada and Hangs Out at Private Views, but with a lot more sex and naughty bits."[2] According to a National Public Radio review, "just about all the acting in this otherwise pedestrian satire is fabulous, and for want of other diversions you might amuse yourself itemizing all the squandered talent"; the film conflates "black comedy with cynicism" and "ends, dispiritingly, pretty much where it began."[7] The Daily Beast called it a "dead-on satire of the contemporary art world that is loved by the very audience it savages."[8] Rex Reed called it a "tepid spoof that only occasionally evokes a reluctant smile" and said it "failed to capture the nuances or craft a more brutal, incisive exposé of the art milieu."[9]

Miscellaneous

The Fat Boy Slim video for Star 69 features video clips from the movie.

References

  1. Felperin, Leslie (29 June 2009). "Boogie Woogie". Variety. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  2. "Boogie Woogie: sex, drugs and overpriced art". The Sunday Times. 11 April 2010. Retrieved 17 November 2010.
  3. Nick Curtis (12 April 2010). "Interview: Danny Moynihan - The Boogie Woogie man". Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  4. Archived 6 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Boogie Woogie, production notes from a fansite for Stellan Skarsgård
  6. "Boogie Woogie (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 6 November 2020.
  7. Ella Taylor (22 April 2010). "Boogie Woogie': Slick Moves Among The Art Mob". National Public Radio. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  8. James Reginato (13 May 2010). "The Art World's Devil Wears Prada". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  9. Rex Reed (21 April 2010). "Boogie Woogie: You Call This Art?". The New York Observer. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
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