''Local Color'' is a 2006 American drama film, written and directed by George Gallo and starring Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ray Liotta and Trevor Morgan in the lead role. It is based on a true story, that of the director/writer's experience when he was 18. The character of Nicholai Seroff was based on George Cherepov, to whom Gallo had been an apprentice in the 1970s.https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/get_out/an-artist-s-flawed-look-at-his-colorful-past-c/article_c1d26df6-5c51-5029-a247-e8ced722afc3.html

Plot

In 1974, John Talia is a teenager who aspires to be a painter, despite the fact that his eponymous father strongly disapproves of his interest in art. Talia manages to meet Nicholai Seroff, an elderly Russian expatriate

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

painter who had been quite successful in the years before the

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...

movement threw realism into disrepute. Seroff is bitter and has not painted for years. Gradually Talia attempts to befriend the elderly artist, and despite many rebuffs, finally succeeds. Seroff invites the young man to spend the summer with him in his summer house in the countryside. Talia's father is extremely skeptical, and suspicious of the elder man's motives, but the young Talia goes anyway. During the first weeks, Seroff seems to be using Talia primarily as an unpaid laborer to fix up his house, however it becomes clear that the Russian is sharing with the young man many nuggets of wisdom about life and art. Eventually Seroff shows him many things about how to paint, and how to capture a shared experience. When Talia comes home at the end of the summer, unknown to the young man, Seroff goes to Talia's house first, and manages to win over the young man's highly skeptical father. Some years later, when Seroff dies, he leaves many of his paintings to the young man, who happily remembers seeing Seroff finally painting again.

Cast

Production

Gallo also painted all of the oil paintings in this movie, having "cleaned out his whole garage" of his paintings. In particular, the paintings that John (Trevor Morgan) showed to Seroff (Armin Mueller-Stahl) when asking him for advice in the beginning of the movie were the exact paintings that Gallo had shown to Cherepov as a teenager. Although the film was based in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and Pennsylvania, the film was actually shot in various locations in Louisiana in and around New Orleans,

Covington Covington may refer to: People * Covington (surname) Places United Kingdom * Covington, Cambridgeshire * Covington, South Lanarkshire United States * Covington, Georgia * Covington, Indiana * Covington, Kentucky, the largest American cit ...

and

Baton Rouge Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-sma ...

. Production began in July 2005. The company stayed in two different hotels to avoid delays driving from New Orleans to a nearby location at the end of the schedule and were thus able to wrap production only 8 days before

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

without interruption.

References

External links

*
Official Distributor
* * 2006 films 2006 drama films Films directed by George Gallo American films based on actual events Films set in 1974 Films set in New York (state) Films set in Pennsylvania Films shot in Louisiana American drama films Films about fictional painters 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-drama-film-stub