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Local Color

Play trailer Poster for Local Color R Released Jul 3, 2009 1h 39m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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39% Tomatometer 18 Reviews 59% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
In 1974, 18-year-old John (Trevor Morgan) discovers that once-famous landscape painter Nicholi Seroff (Armin Mueller-Stahl) lives in his small town in New York state. Though Nicholi is a recluse, John talks his way into the artist's house with a bottle of vodka. After Nicholi warms to the young man, he offers John a chance to spend the summer with him at his Pennsylvania country house, in exchange for doing the housework. John agrees, and once there he falls for neighbor Carla (Samantha Mathis).
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Local Color

Critics Reviews

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Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times Kriter-director George Gallo has given the stocky, ever-commanding Mueller-Stahl a heroic, bravura role and has been rewarded by the actor with a towering, complex portrayal that is surely among his finest. Rated: 4/5 Jul 31, 2009 Full Review S. James Snyder Time Out The sweeping landscapes look flawless, but missing from Local Color's canvas is any nuance in its human elements. Rated: 2/5 Jul 1, 2009 Full Review Bill Weber Slant Magazine Local Color is a sappy brick to the audience's forehead. Rated: .5/4 Jun 30, 2009 Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins While the film's story and acting are its most redeeming factors, the most peculiar element is its narration. Rated: 6/10 Nov 26, 2020 Full Review Annie Young Frisbie Christianity Today Despite the color that Mueller-Stahl and Morgan bring to their roles, Local Color remains as flat as a monochrome painting. Rated: 2.5/4 Dec 3, 2018 Full Review Daniel Saney Digital Spy Sporting truly wonderful performances, particularly from Mueller-Stahl, Local Colour is an enjoyable and moving experience. Rated: 4/5 Jul 14, 2011 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (58) audience reviews
oldriverdiva I liked it. True story Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/02/23 Full Review john c I was trying to find something worth watching and decided to give this movie 5 minutes. I expected something stupid. Instead, it pulled me in and hit every note for me. I assume it did not enjoy a lot of commercial success so I would like to think all the actors and screenwriters. Thank you. You truly moved my heart with this film. I don't care what the critics might have said. There is a lot of wisdom shared in this wonderful film. Thank you for making a movie like this. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member I ironically mocks modern art and praises objective classical art and then fails on exactly that which makes classical art boring. It praise sentimentality and then plunges into repetitive patterns of shlock sentimentality. It pretends all modern art is just bullshit to make its point which is childish and uninformed, but defends itself by a call to the masses as if that justifies boring because lots of people still like boring. The sound is awful and the narration is mind numbing. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/24/23 Full Review william k Nicely told autobiographical tale of an artist and his pupil has good cinematography and an excellent cats, but showcases a rather reactionary concept of Art. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review camille l Local Color est un coming-of-age movie dans le sens le plus classique du terme. Un gamin y devient adulte pendant un été au contact d'un type vaguement étrange et extrêmement charismatique. Cependant, Local Color a la chance d'être mis en scène par George Gallo et d'être interpété par Trevor Morgan et Armin Mueller-Stahl, qui sont absolument prodigieux dans leurs rôles. Aussi drôle que touchant, le film bénéficie aussi d'un rythme soutenu et de l'excellent Ron Perlman, absolument hilarant. Local Color est un bien bon film trop méconnu. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member An amazing heartfelt autobiographical coming-of-age bio- drama written and directed by George Gallo, starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ray Liotta and Trevor Morgan in the lead role. It is based on a Gallo's experience when he was 18. The character of Nikolai Serov was based on George Cherepov, to whom Gallo had been an apprentice in the 1970s. Interesting part is that Gallo also painted all of the oil paintings in this movie, having "cleaned out his whole garage" of his paintings. In particular, the paintings that John (Trevor Morgan) showed to Serov (Armin Mueller-Stahl) when asking him for advice in the beginning of the movie were the exact paintings that Gallo as a teenager had showed Cherepov! The story of the young 18 year-old aspiring artist John Talia, Jr. (Trevor Morgan)- who is mostly misunderstood by his homophobic father (Ray Liotta) thinking that his son must be a homosexual because he enjoys drawing male nudes, was enlightening... real values against contemporary values of the 1974 New York! When John discovers that his idol, aging master, Nicoli Seroff (Armin Mueller-Stahl), lives nearby, he begs the old man to take him on as an apprentice. The invigorating young man has no idea that what he'll find is an embittered old alcoholic who has lost not only his enthusiasm for painting but for living. It is a movie which doesn't offer too much new, it is all very familiar and predictble but when we have an argument of old real values against contemporary questionable artworks, this doesn't count as a disadvantage. Cat Stevens songs are used to set the mood... and after that prepare yourself to see shades of the Karate Kid in Local Color, especially the mentoring-style of sensei Mr. Miyagi (who was also mourning the loss of his wife)! During the ensuing months, John is introduced to the intricacies of landscape painting by the troubled Seroff as well as the pleasures of romance with a beautiful neighbor (Samantha Mathis). Along the way, there are many passionate discussions about art, fueled by the presence of Seroff's argumentative art dealer friend (Ron Perlman). If you are an art lover, there is plenty to enjoy in this movie and beautifully photographed in widescreen to take full advantage of its gorgeously scenic Louisiana locations (substituting for Pennsylvania), the film is best appreciated on the big screen. In these suroundings it is impossible not to enjoy the sensitive performances by Morgan, Mueller-Stahl, and Diana Scarwid as John's empathetic mother. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Local Color

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Movie Info

Synopsis In 1974, 18-year-old John (Trevor Morgan) discovers that once-famous landscape painter Nicholi Seroff (Armin Mueller-Stahl) lives in his small town in New York state. Though Nicholi is a recluse, John talks his way into the artist's house with a bottle of vodka. After Nicholi warms to the young man, he offers John a chance to spend the summer with him at his Pennsylvania country house, in exchange for doing the housework. John agrees, and once there he falls for neighbor Carla (Samantha Mathis).
Director
George Gallo
Producer
Jimmy Evangelatos, George Gallo, Julie Lott, Alex Kirkwood
Screenwriter
George Gallo
Distributor
Monterey Media
Production Co
Permut Presentations
Rating
R (Language)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jul 3, 2009, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Dec 6, 2015
Runtime
1h 39m
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