"VENICE PROJECT" AN ARTHOUSE GEM

By: David Stratton, Reuters, 09-15-99 02:55

The Venice Project (Drama, Austria-U.S., color, no rating,
1:26)

VENICE(Variety) -Filmed in three weeks during Juna at the
Venice Biennale and in the villa belonging to Venetian
aristocrat Count Volpi, "The Venice Project" earns full
marks for getting to the screen in near record time.

A last-minute noncompeting addition to the Venice film fest
program, pic is a genuine curiosity, a playful item about
the past and the future of art, decked out with an alluring
cast plus a few celebrities from literature, the visual
arts and even politics. Result is a highly specialized
item that will appeal to a limited section of art lovers,
indicating a very spotty theatrical career; ancillary, though,
looks to be very promising.

Cluttered with characters, some of whose dialogue appears
to be improvised, "Project" has the feel of one of those
Henry Jaglom films in which the sum total is rarely as
interesting as individual components. There are treasurable
moments here, but also long stretches of indulgence. 
Flitting back and forth between 1699 and 1999 adds to the
interest.

Pic begins quite charmingly with Dennis Hopper addressing
the camera: "If you can see and hear me now, we made it to
the next century." Well, not quite, but probably by the
time most of the audience for the film see it the millennium
will be upon us. Hopper plays Roland, who lives in Venice,
Calif., and dabbles in way-out art while his older sister,
Countess Camilla Volta (Lauren Bacall), lives in style in
the family's ancient palazzo in Venice, Italy. Amazingly,
the viscount (John Wood), father of the siblings, still lives,
but barily: Before slipping into a coma he donated, most
annoingly for the children, his home and art treasures
to the Italian state.

Roland has arrived to attend his sister's grand party,
which is to be held in conjunction with the last Biennale
of the millennium, and he brings with him his most daring
piece of art -- a so-called Art Confessional, a gold-
colored edifice into which celebrities and others are
encoureged to sit and talk to a video camera about their
theories on art -- with the guarantee that their ideas
will not be seen publicly for 100 years.

Meanwhile, in flashbacks to 1699, an ancestor of Roland
and Camilla, Count Giaccomo (Linus Roache) asks his
advisers, including Salvatore (Hopper again) to predict
the future of art; his jester, Gippo (Stuart Townsend)
proposes that future art will be abstract and experimental
-- like that currently creatad by lunaticcs -- he's thrown
into the Grand Canal for his pains. Roache and Townsend
both appear in the modern scenes, the former as a relative
of the family, the latter as the fun-loving Lark, who's
having an affair with the pert family maid (lovely Mia
Maestro in a Louise Brooks haircut). Lark predicts a
future for invisible art -- if you can't see it, he says,
you can't buy or control it.

Also involved are Stockard Channing as an art dealer, 
Dean Stockwell as a U.S. senator, Hector Babenco as a film
director and Anna Galiena as the palazzo's beautiful chef,
plus many others. A running gag has Cheech Marin, playing
himself, constantly denied entry to the palazzo by a
snooty doorman.

Script by Nicholas Klein ("The End of Violence") is
decidedly patchy, with many of the points made in labored
fashion. Of the confessors who speak direct to the camera,
Lauren Hutton contributes one of the best comments: "Art
makes me high, and it's legal."

Ultimately, pic is a plea for open minds when it comes to
new directions in art and director Robert Dornhelm (whose
previous work includes "Echo Park" and the excellent
"Requiem for Dominic") states his case quite amusingly.
But for too much of the film the viewer is like an uninvited
guest at a very elegant party, not quite privy to what's
been said, and made to feel a little self-conscious about
it.

Technical credits are fine, given the rushed post-production
schedule.