Reviewing ‘Art For Everybody,’ and four other new biographical documentaries

Also, reviews of 'Thank You Very Much,' 'Like Tears in Rain,' 'Janis Ian: Breaking Silence' and 'The Other Hurley'

This has been such a fruitful month for documentaries that I’ve already filled in all ten slots in the next 10-pack of capsule reviews, with a lot more left to spare, including five different fascinating biographical docs. So here are reviews of those:

Art For Everybody

You could call Thomas Kinkade the Kenny G of art: He was extremely successful financially, and attained mainstream fame and riches. But the tastemakers and snobs of his art form never took him seriously, and in some cases went so far as to curse his name.

Now, we have Art for Everybody, the first major feature documentary examination of Kinkade. Directed by Miranda Yousef, previously an editor who’s making her first feature doc, it’s one of my favorite documentaries of the year so far, and every bit the equal of Listening to Kenny G, Penny Lane’s 2021 examination of that musician.

Sure, it’s a bit different — Kenny is living and was able to participate in Lane’s film, and never suffered the sort of public fall from grace that Kinkade did — but both films are honest and fair about their subjects. I could see those who both love and loathe Kinkade finding things to appreciate about this film.

Kinkade, known as the “Painter of Light,” was known for producing kitschy paintings featuring lighthouses, cottages, and other pieces of stylized Americana. (The great podcast the Filmdrunk Frotcast once compared Kinkade’s art to “slowly vomiting salt-water taffy.”)

He sold untold amounts of these paintings, through franchised galleries in malls, QVC, and other places not traditionally associated with art. He even at one point created a Kinkade-inspired real estate development.

He was a major celebrity between the late ‘80s and the turn of the Millennium, professing a pious Christianity and presenting an alternative to the sort of controversial art, subject to NEA scandals, at that time. He also cultivated an image as a conservative Christian family man and occasional culture warrior.

But then, Kinkade had a slow-motion fall from grace, which included a series of embarrassing reports about his drinking and public behavior, the collapse of his company and fortune, the breakup of his family, and his death, attributed to "acute intoxication" from alcohol and diazepam, in 2012, at the age of 54. Along the way, he reportedly once urinated on a Winnie the Pooh figure at Disneyland (“This one’s for you, Walt!”), and got drunk at a Siegfried and Roy show and started shouting “codpiece!” at the magicians.

The film takes an expansive view, marshaling a great deal of archival footage, as well as interviews with Kinkade’s former wife and daughters. It also unearths something: A vault of “lost” Kinkade paintings, which were darker and more cynical than the art with which he was publicly associated.

Art For Everybody ultimately paints something of a tragic picture of the man whose art, both public and private, examined his hidden pain- which ultimately led him to lose everything.

I should mention that I’ve been waiting for this film for more than two years. It had a festival run in 2023, and I kept missing it at festivals that I covered, but I’m happy to have finally gotten to see it. Also, stay tuned later this week, or possibly next, for an interview I did with the director, Miranda Yousef.

Art For Everybody lands in theaters on Friday.

Thank You Very Much

Here’s a documentary about the life and career of Andy Kaufman, which doesn’t really break any new ground not explored by the several previous Kaufman docs.

Directed by Alex Braverman, it goes through the beats of Kaufman’s comedy, his Taxi and SNL stints, Tony Clifton, his run in wrestling, his illness and death, and the endless speculation that he isn’t really dead. Previous docs I'm From Hollywood (about the wrestling angle) and Jim and Andy: The Great Beyond (about Jim Carrey’s portrayal of him) have dived deeper and come up with insights; this one does neither.

There’s also an extremely weird moment where we see an old newscast clip in which the anchors banter about Kaufman’s wrestling career, at which point the clip continues and we see the entire completely unrelated next item, about a man in Israel forced by a rabbinical court to have sex with his wife. I’m wondering why that was included- sure, I would imagine the filmmaker thought it was funny, but doing so doesn’t jibe with Kaufman’s comedic style.

Thank You Very Much lands in theaters and VOD on Friday.

Janis Ian: Breaking Silence

This doc, Varda Bar-Kar, also tells a linear story about the life of Janis Ian- no, not the Mean Girls character, but rather the folk singer, who grew up Jewish on a chicken farm in New Jersey, who broke through at age 14 in the mid-1960s and has continued her career for the ensuing 60 years.

The film doesn’t do much that’s especially unconventional, but I didn’t much mind- the music is amazing, and Ian’s story, while unheralded, is fantastic.

After lots of time on the Jewish film festival circuit, Breaking Silence hits theaters on Friday.

Like Tears in Rain

Actor Rutger Hauer died in 2019 at the age of 75, in his home nation of the Netherlands. Before, he had appeared in more than 170 films, on both sides of the Atlantic, and playing both heroes and villains.

Like Tears in Rain is an 80-minute documentary about Hauer’s life, featuring a ton of film footage and interviews with the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Vincent D’Onofrio, and the undoubted MVP of the film, Mickey Rourke.

There’s a good chance you know Hauer most of all from Blade Runner, and the film wisely saves his “Tears in Rain” speech for the end, where it’s deployed best.

Like Tears in Rain is available now on the streaming platform Viaplay.

The Other Hurley

One of the most intriguing sports documentaries of the year aired as an episode of ESPN’s E:60, with not much fanfare, on the eve of the NCAA Tournament.

It’s the story of Dan Hurley, the son of the legendary New Jersey high school coach of the same name, and the brother of Bobby Hurley, the star basketball player at Duke in the early ‘80s. Dan (known as “Danny” when he played) had his playing career cut short, and even stepped away for a while due to mental health concerns.

Then, decades later, he launched a coaching career that included national championships the last two years at Connecticut- and also the closest thing college basketball has to a pro wrestling heel.

The documentary follows all of that while exploring all sides of the man’s history and personality. But it’s his Jersey Girl wife, Andrea, who emerges as the documentary’s MVP.

The Other Hurley is streaming on Hulu and ESPN+, although finding it might require searching E:60 and combing through the archives.