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Taking Venice

Play trailer 2:06 Poster for Taking Venice Released May 17 1h 38m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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73% Tomatometer 15 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. government is determined to fight Communism with culture. The Venice Biennale, the world's most influential art exhibition, becomes a proving ground in 1964. Alice Denney, Washington insider and friend of the Kennedys, recommends Alan Solomon, an ambitious curator making waves with trailblazing art, to organize the U.S. entry. Together with Leo Castelli, a powerful New York art dealer, they embark on a daring plan to make Robert Rauschenberg the winner of the Grand Prize. The artist is yet to be taken seriously with his combinations of junk off the street and images from pop culture, but he has the potential to dazzle. Deftly pulling off maneuvers that could have come from a Hollywood thriller, the American team leaves the international press crying foul and Rauschenberg questioning the politics of nationalism that sent him there.
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Taking Venice

Critics Reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Variety If you want to know how the definition of “scandal” has changed with the decades, you couldn’t do much better than to see Taking Venice, Amei Wallach’s highly enjoyable and revealing documentary about a legendary uproar in the art world. May 31, 2024 Full Review Christopher Knight Los Angeles Times The account is well-told and worth knowing, even without conspiratorial murmurs. May 20, 2024 Full Review Matt Zoller Seitz RogerEbert.com The movie skates over that irony instead of digging into it. Rated: 2.5/4 May 17, 2024 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills More conventionally crafted than the disruptive art it chronicles, Taking Venice nonetheless uses plentiful archival materials and latter-day interviews to tell a fascinating story. Jul 5, 2024 Full Review Charles Solomon FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) It's frenetic without telling you anything really that fascinating. Jun 14, 2024 Full Review Wade Major FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) A very competently-made doc about really pretentious subject matter... I found it somewhat uninvolving, but I was able to admire it from a distance. Jun 14, 2024 Full Review Read all reviews
Taking Venice

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis At the height of the Cold War, the U.S. government is determined to fight Communism with culture. The Venice Biennale, the world's most influential art exhibition, becomes a proving ground in 1964. Alice Denney, Washington insider and friend of the Kennedys, recommends Alan Solomon, an ambitious curator making waves with trailblazing art, to organize the U.S. entry. Together with Leo Castelli, a powerful New York art dealer, they embark on a daring plan to make Robert Rauschenberg the winner of the Grand Prize. The artist is yet to be taken seriously with his combinations of junk off the street and images from pop culture, but he has the potential to dazzle. Deftly pulling off maneuvers that could have come from a Hollywood thriller, the American team leaves the international press crying foul and Rauschenberg questioning the politics of nationalism that sent him there.
Director
Amei Wallach
Producer
Andrea Miller, Tal Mandil, Vanessa Bergonzoli
Distributor
Zeitgeist Films / Kino Lorber
Production Co
Display None Productions
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 17, 2024, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jul 16, 2024
Box Office (Gross USA)
$65.3K
Runtime
1h 38m
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