Picturing the Price of Being an Artist
“Artists don’t have families,” the mysterious Warner Daxtells confused painter Daniel at their first meeting in the new film The Time Being. Dax (played by film and theater legend Frank Langella) challenges Daniel (played by Wes Bentley) not just to complete a series of obscure tasks for the cash to keep his struggling career, marriage, and family alive, but also to consider the price he’s paying in the pursuit of art. Time spent painting means time not spent with family. An enigmatic film full of subtle acting and shot in a subtle, but powerfully evocative style, The Time Being thoughtfully examines the cost of the creative life and seriously asks if it is truly worth paying. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Picturing the Price of Being an Artist."
[Image: Wes Bentley as Daniel beside a portrait of Frank Langella as Warner Dax in The Time Being, distributed by Tribeca Film. Portrait by Stephen Wright.]
[Many thanks to Tribeca Film for providing me with the image above from, press materials for, and a screener copy of The Time Being, starring Frank Langella and Wes Bentley and opening in select theaters on July 26, 2013.]