Review of (Untitled)

For those with a knowledge of 20th century modern,and post modern art, this film is for you (and even if you know little about the above mentioned subject matter,this film is also for you---if you have an open mind to give it a chance). (Untitled)is a wry,sly,droll,tongue in cheek comedy about the art world & how art is/can be conceived. Adam Goldberg is Adrian Jacob,a composer who is a little too tightly wound for his own good (he almost always seems to be a walking bundle of seething rage that is threatening to explode at any moment). His music is generally atonal,harsh noise that most folk either walk out on (as evidence in the film's opening,which takes place at a sparsely attended concert of his work at a performance space in New York City,where the story takes place),or outright laugh at. His brother,Josh (played by Eion Bailey)is a successful artist. Both are attracted to Madeleine Gray (played by Marley Shelton),the owner of an uptown,posh art gallery that specializes in modern & post modern (conceptual)art that most folk regard as b.s. Jonathan Parker directs this breezy little comedy from a screenplay written by Parker & Catherine DiNapoli. Perhaps not a perfect film,but worth seeking out for those with interests that include new music (read that as experimental/noise/Avant Garde),Dadaist art (it makes sly,albeit submerged nods to the Fluxus art movement of the late 1950's/early 1960's),and gleefully thumbs it's nose at other denizens of the uptown & downtown art scenes in New York. Anybody who is/was a fan of either of the bands Luna or Galaxie 500,keep your eyes open for a cameo by Dean Wareham,who has a brief role as an art critic at one of Adrian's performances. My personal click to pick was a plum role by Lucy Punch,who is just credited as 'The Clarinet'(a fellow musician who played bass clarinet in Adrian's ensemble),but deserved far better. Rated 'R' by the MPAA for a rude word or two,some brief nudity,some rather tame sexual content & the view of a piece of art that can be regarded by some as pornographic.