The Moderns (1988)
Movie Info
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Cast
as Nick Hart
as Rachel Stone
as Bertram Stone
as Oiseau
as Libby Valentin
as Nathalie de Ville
as Ernest Hemingway
as L'Evidence
as Charley
as Gertrude Stein
as Alice B. Toklas
as New York Critic
as Surrealist Poet
as Buffy
as Alexandre
as Femme de Lettres
as Chapelle
as Stone's Bodyguard #1
as Babette
as Black Chanteuse
as Blackie
as Critic
as Mr. Brown
as Proprietress
as Priest
as Francis
as Abigail
as Stone's Business Associate
as Fille de Nuit
as Art Critic
as Eve (Group Montparno)
Critic Reviews for The Moderns
All Critics (17) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (13) | Rotten (4)
The movie's disparate elements are unified less by the plot than by Rudolph's distinctive, rhapsodic style, with its sinuous long takes and archly elusive performances.
A movie that makes an afternoon with Gertrude and Alice more boring than a faculty tea.
It takes place at that enchanted moment in Paris when the Lost Generation created itself and then proceeded to create, promote, fabricate and publicize modern literature, art, music and attitudes.
Rudolph's weaknesses pale before the film's overriding textures: Toyomichi Kurita's cinematography exquisitely crosses color with sepia and blacks and whites.
Everything is ersatz, even the surrealism in Alan Rudolph's 10th movie.
A casually absurd, surprisingly playful look into the lives of American expatriates --Gertrude Stein's famous "lost generation" -- in post-World War I Paris.
Audience Reviews for The Moderns
This is a fairly enjoyable tale set in the art world of 1920s Paris. The look of the film and the mood it creates are the most important things; far more important than the enjoyable, yet slow-moving plotline. It is highly imaginative and its representation of icons such as Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein add an extra dimension to the film. The only true weak points are some of the dialogues between the two leads; it is sometimes out of place and almost too 'modern'! All the performances are good but John Lone and Keith Carradine are especially suited to their parts.
Super Reviewer
[font=Century Gothic]"The Moderns" takes place in 1920's Paris where Nick Hart(Keith Carradine) is a starving artist who makes his living drawing cartoons to accompany the columns written by Oiseau(Wallace Shawn) in the Tribune.(Taking the high road, he has declined a commission to forge three Cezanne paintings for a wealthy soon-to-be divorcee, Nathalie(Geraldine Chaplin).) Nick's former lover, Rachel(Linda Fiorentino), is in town, now married to a mysterious businessman, Bertram Stone(John Lone), who is rumored to have killed a man. So, of course, Nick slaps Rachel at the salon of Gertrude Stein(Elsa Raven). Since dueling is now out of fashion, Bertram and Nick instead agree to a boxing match...[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"The Moderns" has an interesting setting and a fine cast but both are wasted in what is little more than a penis-measuring contest between Nick and Bertram. The movie is about the neverending battle between commerce and art but by not making it specifically about creating art, the film misses out on what made Paris in the 1920's special. Keith Carradine's wooden performance only hurts matters.[/font]
Super Reviewer
The Moderns Quotes
| Gertrude Stein: | Hey Hemingway. You know the sun also sets, too. |