The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (2002) User Reviews

great film- very intelligent humor

[jwiffy · 9/10 · 31 January 2005]

I saw this film at Sundance a couple years ago but just recently saw it again on DVD. It is a beautiful short film that does a good job of walking the fine line of irony. The film comes across as an art history educational film that makes the argument that the blocks of paint left over by city graffiti removal crews is in fact a very important art movement. It's pretty funny and will draw laughs, but the cinematography and tone insure that it's not just some tongue-in-cheek mockumentary. The filmmaker does a good job of hinting that it's a joke, but then proving that the blocks of paint really are interesting to look at.

The might be a little too long, and it's obviously very low-budget, but it's a brilliant piece that's easy on the eyes and worth checking out.

is it an art movie? is it satire? it's all of that and more

[ignominia-1 · 9/10 · 17 February 2006]

This is a classic. July's voice is captivating, mesmerizing, and funny in a very personal way. The music\is perfect background to the visuals, and the idea of the movie pure genius. The concept manages to balance between satire on art and the demonstration that art can be found in many small unintentional things. Some of the visuals in the split frame are too distant and unclear and their meaning -the reason for those shots- is not clear like the rest of the picture: but those are small flaws. The filmmaker looks at the moon when the sage points at it, not at the finger like most of us do. It could be a weekly view for me, a ritual to keep me oiled for more intelligent observations on life and art. And it is a warm up to Miranda July's feature film "Me and You and Everyone We Know" which rightly won the Camera D'Or at the last Cannes Film Festival.

Clever

[camachoborracho · 8/10 · 30 July 2005]

This is a skillful combination of a documentary, art/educational film and mockumentary. I particularly liked the tongue in cheek style humor and irony throughout the film with the narration and electronic new wave style music you'd see at most artsy pretentious documentary shorts.

It was also interesting to see that there was something with substance to it - as if there could be a subconscious art movement by the government. Yet the film does not take itself too seriously.

In particular a few funny moments occur when the head graffiti removal person speaks and then his words are re-cut to "find" his "true" & "subconscious" meaning. Another great part is when the workers are not even bothering to try and match the paint with the wall.

The only major thing which bothered me was the woman on the bike. If this was a jab at artsy films it was lost on me perhaps because it came across too subtly. Anyway it drags on an otherwise clever film and I think it may explain why a previous poster felt that it was "randomly" slapped together.

Overall a really funny mini documentary with an interesting narrative perspective and stinging sense of irony. Very refreshing.

8/10

It is funny for a few minutes, and enjoyable throughout.

[thomasmazawa · 5 September 2005]

I saw this film in my experimental cinema class. As I recall, there was a similar initial reaction to the film as producer-3's comment states. Although, we all seemed to enjoy the entire thing. The woman on the bike was one of my favorite parts of the short film. I believe the visuals of this film and especially the soundtrack really created quite the convincing tone.

What I mean to say is that it is understood that on some level this is meant to be funny. And yet in almost the same breath, the film communicates a real honesty and feeling of professionalism in film-making. For all intensive purposes, the film can be viewed as a documentary and not a mockumentary, and on this same wavelength exists a very creative and refreshing experience.

Bizarre satirical short

[briancham1994 · 9/10 · 11 August 2020]

This short film is an interesting satire on the world of art with a bizarre premise. The central conceit is that the drab graffiti removal paint is actually something quite profound. It is portrayed in a rather pretentious way as if it is revealing something deep and this really does pay off if that's your kind of humour.

It is funny for the first few minutes, then just monotonous.

[producer-3 · 3/10 · 24 June 2002]

I saw this at the Nantucket film Festival (2002)

Its tries to state the point, that the result of graffiti removal by state workers is subconscious art. I admit that I am not highly knowledgeable in art; however being the son of a modern artist I say that this is spurious.

The audience laughed through this film, as did I. If the film was intended as a comedical insight, the joke got old very fast. Be prepared to look at many images of removed graffiti for 16 minutes.

There was one scene with a woman on a bike riding through town. I started to get a feel of what the director was saying, but then the woman suddenly changed directions, leaving me with the impression that these where just random scenes slapped together.

Clever and amusing arty pastiche despite being a bit longer than it can carry

[bob the moo · 12 March 2007]

A documentary exploring the creation of a new art movement, that of graffiti removal. Often carried out subconsciously by the artists (who themselves are often manual workers for the municipality) the art sees the creation of shapes over existing graffiti as the artists creates new urban landscapes and images.

A wonderful idea this. We have all seen the graffiti removal that is less to do with removal than it is to just paint over the tags and such. However this film takes that simple task and presents it as a work of art and discusses as if it was the most beautiful creative force in the world. It is a great idea and it does it very well, effectively emulating and spoofing the approach of arty types that discuss everything with that rather pretentious air. It plays it very straight and draws humour rather than massive, silly laughs – some viewers will want these but for me less was more.

Unfortunately this also applied to the running time because I thought it ran too long and was maybe stretched longer than the material allowed. The material with the girl on the bicycle was well shot but it sucked the comic energy from the delivery. So at times it is a bit lacking but when it is hitting the target, it hits it well and makes for an affectionate spoof of artsy types – never laying into them without mercy but not avoiding the easy targets either. Amusing and effective even if it is a bit longer than it can cope with.