My Kid Could Paint That ****

"Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth"

-Pablo Picasso

This film is a fascinating documentary about a young girl, Marla Olmstead, whose paintings were selling for tens of thousands of dollars. It goes on an intimate journey with the family, recording their frustrations as the media become cynical about the origin of Marla's paintings. The film also chronicles the filmmakers' own doubts about the paintings and his resulting discomfort.

This documentary is presented like a mystery movie. It gradually presents evidence for or against Marla as the author of the paintings and, in the end, lets you decide. Video footage of Marla painting 'Ocean' is presented, but when the painting is being sold, a potential buyer expresses her doubts about the quality of the painting. Bar-Lev shows us, side by side, 'Ocean' and her some of her previous attributed works and lets us decide. My opinion? Marla provided the intitial painting on the original paintings, but her father finished up and added the polish and style that is apparent when Marla's earlier and later paintings are compared. I, however, am not denying that the original works were great art, and I do beleive that whoever did the paintings had consdiderable talent.

My Kid Could Paint That is an excellent documentary which really asks the question, "what is art". It asks this question particularly of modern art, but also of the documentary itself.

Have you seen this movie? Who do you think painted the paintings? Be sure to comment. Please subscribe! You can do this via rss or email by clicking on the links in the top left.