The Graffiti Artist (2004)

Adrift in a lush, nocturnal urban landscape, Nick is a post-modern urban hero asserting his anarchistic agenda on the endless maze of virgin exterior walls that comprise downtown Seattle ... See full summary »

Director:

James Bolton

Writer:

James Bolton

Stars:

Ruben Bansie, Pledgure Duoshun, Zachary S. Smalls

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ruben Bansie	...	Nick (as Ruben Bansie-Snellman)
Pledgure Duoshun	...	Hardware Stock Clerk
Zachary S. Smalls	...	Police Officer #1
Robert D. Heath Jr.	...	Police Officer #2
Rich Clemets	...	Booking Officer
Rich Carlton	...	Skate Shop Clerk
Pepper Fajans	...	Jesse
Daniel Parker	...	Boy at Burnside Skate Park
Luke Cook	...	Boy at Burnside Skate Park
Dan Stegner	...	Boy at Burnside Skate Park
Justin Lawrence	...	Undercover Cop #1
John Paulson	...	Undercover Cop #2
Megan Johnston	...	Smoothie Shop Girl
Don Connell	...	Hardware Store Clerk
Angie Golds	...	End Police Officer #2

Storyline

Adrift in a lush, nocturnal urban landscape, Nick is a post-modern urban hero asserting his anarchistic agenda on the endless maze of virgin exterior walls that comprise downtown Seattle and Portland. For writer/director Bolton's lonely "tagger" protagonist, the vast wall surfaces of deserted alleys and trainyards are at once a daunting symbol of capitalist oppression and a texturally rich, seamless tableau ripe for exploitation to amplify his artistic dialectic of anger and rebellion. His own virtually anonymous existence seemingly only secondary to the painted surfaces and "rupture the system" manifesto which more poignantly evidence his presence, Nick's prodigious solo graffiti output is interrupted by friendship with another young tagger. Their communication begins as less verbal than a kind of shared graphic tour de force; their enormous collaborative graffiti murals appear to emerge as the unmistakable offspring of their kindred spirit. But eventually their assumptions about one...

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Plot Keywords:

graffiti | graffiti artist | drawing | stealing | sleeping in a chair | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

official website

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 January 2006 (Germany)

Also Known As:

This Kid Bolton Levy

Filming Locations:

Portland, Oregon, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mettray Reformatory Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

User Reviews

thoroughly enjoyed it

loved the film.

moving and interesting, and what it lacked in narrative it made up for with wonderful performance by snellman. not perfect, but a great thinking piece that i still ponder on. i agree with the previous comment, that it makes me think about the artist behind graffiti.

it was very reminicant of gus van sant's work in elephant, and i'd love to get my hands on the DVD to see the deleted scenes featuring snellman's sister. interesting to see what would happen introducing a third element.

see it.