My kid could paint that (2008)

I had to battle with myself on weither or not I'd talk about Documentary films on here or just fiction based movies (talkies). I decided that since I don't watch a large number of documentaries that it was OK.

My kid could paint that (2008) is a film that I had been given and never got around to watching. I was told the premise by a coworker and I knew that people thought the dad was telling her how to paint/painting them for her. I think that is why I put off watching it for so long.

I feel that because I'm a trained artist I am not very impressed with Marla's work. I once made a girl cry by criticizing her piece in the student gallery, to which her rebuttal was that "art is subjective." I believe that is the battle cry of people who can't draw.  Another aspect of her art that bothered me was that she used student grade paint. This sent me on a wild goose chase of the Liquitex web site to see if their BASIC brand of student paint was less toxic than the artists grade. I couldn't find any evidence of that. This bothers me because a big aspect of selling work is not just the quality, skill and talent of the artist, but also the quality of the materials used. When you look at sites that sell amateur artwork they list the weight of the paper and if the paint is professional grade ect. All things that add to up more money spent and more money brought in on the piece.

Because of this I can see why this little girl, or rather her parents, were so harshly ridiculed. People spend their whole lives trying to make a living at what they love, and here comes a toddler who sells out her gallery show. I did like the mom, she was portrayed as wanting it all to end and that is was a fun ride. The dad, maybe because I knew he was the villain to start with, was sort of a douche in my eyes. I personally feel that those who spent large amounts of money on her work was because she was a gimmick and real or fake they, like most art collectors, just hope that it will grow in value and be an investment. ( EVEN though they were painted with cheap paint by a toddler.) Do you think that 50 years from now someone is going to pass on what is believed to be an original Marla? I don't even think people remember her name now.

As far as the film itself, it was slow to start. I had to stop it a few times before I got to where controversy had set in and the drama had picked up.  I would recommend Who the #S&% is Jackson Pollock (2007) over this documentary.