Next: A primer on urban painting is a documentary exploration of graffiti-based visual art as a world culture. The filmmaker profiles the art form in nine countries including USA, Canada, France, Holland, Germany, England, Spain, Japan and Brazil.
A combination of vérité moments and interviews with painters, "writers", designers, documentarians and other participants within the subculture, the film conveys the dynamism and creative energy of this significant emerging artistic movement.
Special Agent Matti
You don't have to have street cred to watch Next: A primer on urban painting but it sure helps.
As a documentary, this film lacks that key ingredient: balance. Graffiti is not just an art movement, it is a social statement. Therefore we need to see how it impacts on society. We need more than comments from a few passers-by, we need comments from the owners of the walls that have been turned into art. We need interviews with the government forces charged with eradicating graffiti. We need to learn about the industry that has sprung up to fight the War on Graffiti™.Apart from that, Next is a good documentation of the history of an art form that actually belongs to The People rather than The Elite. From the slums of São Paulo to the streets of Tokyo to the subways of New York, the dispossessed have found a way to be heard, even if it is often no more than "I spray therefore I am."
PS Making a documentary is a great way to get a tax-deductible round-the-world trip sponsored by the government. Good on ya, Pablo.
The Canada, documentary, graffiti movie Next: A primer on urban painting is directed by Pablo Aravena and stars Lee Quiñones, Os Gemeos, Banksy.
*
95 minutes (1:35 hours)
Film: 30 November 2006
