A parable of the missteps of life enacted in the hothouse world
of the late 1980’s New York, in which the art market and the stock
market each boomed, and in process spawned a smorgasbord of “yuppie”
delusions which still persist. Anna, a French actress studying in New
York crosses paths with a successful stock-broker, Mark, standing before
a Vermeer portrait at the Metropolitan, thence ensues a peculiar romance
of missed meanings and connections, with tangential asides to the steaming
arts world and stockmarket, loft-mate conflicts, and, perhaps, love. Wrapped
up in their blindered worlds, Anna and Mark deflect away from their chances,
leaving at the conclusion the wistful face of Vermeer’s portrait
enigmatically asking questions. All the Vermeers in New York
is a comedy of manners which, as gently as a Vermeer, looks beneath the
skin of this time and place, and of these characters.
1989-90 | 35mm | Color | Sound | 90 minutes
Writer, director, editor, cinematographer: Jon Jost
Executive Producer: Lindsay Law for American Playhouse
Producer: Jon Jost
Music:
Jon A. English
With: Stephen Lack, Emmanuelle Chaulet, Katherine
Bean, Grace Phillips, Laurel Lee Kiefer, Gracie Mansion, & Roger
Ruffin
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"All the Vermeers in New York is the kind of film you have
to think and think about, and then finally you realize you admire it."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"This newest work from steadfast American independent filmmaker,
Jon Jost, almost breaks out of his arthouse ghetto and into markedly familiar
movie strategies like narrative and performance, making this his most
engaging merger of experimental and traditional forms. ”
- Margorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
"...an elegantly incisive and gorgeously romantic comedy of manners."
-Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
"Their are several attempts at scenes purely for art's sake: airplanes
cutting through the sky, wandering cameras through lobbies of a museum,
etc., all set to classical or jazz music. At first it seems interesting
but an hour into the movie it really becomes boring. I get it, it's
a painting on film, but does it have to be this boring?"
- Bobby Nashville, DVD Confidential
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