(Untitled): Affectionate Parody of Contemporary Art

"(Untitled)" starts off as a predictable parody of contemporary art such as you'd see on an episode of "Seinfeld" or some other TV sitcom. An avant-garde musician repeatedly kicks a can and calls it art, for example. We've only seen this parody a million times.

But through the course of the film, something surprising happens. Director and co-writer Jonathan Parker reveals himself actually to know about contemporary art. Imagine that: a film about art where the filmmaker actually knows something about art -- and not just about the biographies of artists. At last! In this sense, "(Untitled)" is a long-overdue, pioneering film. For this reason, I wanted so much to like it. Unfortunately though, Mr. Parker doesn't have much to say about art, artists, gallery owners or collectors.

Parker celebrates the avant-garde spirit of being ultra-conceptual and 100 years ahead of the ordinary bourgeoisie. He also pokes affectionate fun at certain excesses, such as the statuesque gallery owner whose clothes are such works of art that they make noise whenever she walks. Galleries are skewered to a degree for having a dishonest, almost predatory approach to artists. And collectors are shown to be mostly clueless about what they're buying. But that's pretty much the entire film. Not much more, ultimately, than you'd get in a "Seinfeld" episode -- and "Seinfeld" is more fun.

Parker and co-writer Catherine DiNapoli know about art. But they don't know much about what makes for a compelling feature film.