modigliani

andy garcia plays the 1920's artist modigiani and his chaotic life and death. we join modigiani as he is a member of what seems to be an artistic community just jam packed with other famous artists. among them is pablo picasso, a man modigiani sees as a rival. as these artists try to out do each other, modigliani meets the girl of his dreams and starts a love affair with her. this go great at the beginning, but then alcohol gets the better of him. but by this time she is pregnant and he must make the right choices if he is to keep her. she also is facing the pressure from her family who hate him because he is jewish. the rivalry between the artists heats up as an art competition takes place pitting all of them against each other. who will win, picasso or modigliani? all of which leads to modigliani making some wrong decisions and a return to the bottle. the movie is pretty good, capturing the care free attitude of being an artist and the chaos of these men during this time period. garcia is perfect as modigliani, though he seems a bit old for the part. i did not care for the actor who played picasso, but that could be because i have always thought of picasso as being played by anthony hopkins. anyway, the movie brings an interesting view of the challenge of the artists' lifestyle compared to the responsibility of being a family man.