Never have I wanted to visit somewhere else more than I did after watching “The Moderns.” Set in Paris, France in the 1920s, “The Moderns” manages to transport you back in time and space to a world where fashion, art and literature were at their best.
Nick Hart (Keith Carradine) is a struggling artist supporting himself by drawing the satirical cartoons for a local journal. An ex-art forger, Nick is drawn back into the world of counterfeiting when he is presented with a deal that is just too good to pass up.
But underneath the art, fashion, music and humor, “The Moderns” is really a love story. A simple story of two people in love, in the city of love, separated and trying to rekindle what they once had.
movies.msn.com
Using artful shots of Paris, black and white coloring and actual historical figures from the 1920s, “The Moderns” easily places you in the very streets of Paris. Ernest Hemingway (Kevin J. O’Connor) makes more than one appearance, often in order to give eye-roll inducing advice (“…there are only two things that can really kill a man. Suicide and gonorrhea.”) and proving that, while a literary genius, he was pretentious as all hell.
Not a moment passes where music is not a prime element in the film. The jazz riffs playing at the local bar, the smooth saxophone that accompanies certain characters and even the pianist who improvises alongside the mood of the film all add to the 1920’s atmosphere of “The Moderns.”
While art is the main subject of the film, fashion takes center stage in the impeccably costumed period piece. Every outfit is designed down to the very last detail to represent the time period; there is no lack of cloches, pearls or bob haircuts.
“The Moderns” manages to completely entrance you while simultaneously convincing you that a trip to Paris is just what the doctor ordered. With boxing matches, espionage and suicides abounding, “The Moderns” is an artfully crafted romp through the mind of the temperamental artist.
Leave a Reply