DVD Review: Victori: The Truth Just Can’t Be One Thing

Victori: The Truth Just Can’t Be One Thing is a documentary film about artist Victor Victori’s attempts, with the help of his wife and his son, to move away from portraits and gain recognition for his original work. Victori is an established and respected portrait painter whose work includes portraits of Donald Trump and political figures. His mural of the United States presidents is part of the White House collection. But his passion lies with his own style which he called multiplism.

The film focuses on interviews with Victor, his wife Maria and his son Edward, even allowing them to introduce themselves at the beginning. Victor was born in South Korea, and resides in New Jersey. His wife, Maria, was born in New York. She talks about how before meeting Victori, she was a buyer for a chain of clothing stores and then took an evening art class. She is adorable when talking about how Victori hired her. Victori’s son Edward considers himself an art consultant, working exclusively with his father. His educational background is business and finance, and prior to helping his father, he worked in a bank. He says he’s “really trying to sell this idea of multiplism as a new type of art, a new style, a new school, a new movement.”

Victori defines multiplism as “The painting of a portraiture in time, a period of time.” The film shows us many examples, and these are interesting works. Edward describes multiplism as “A series of different connected faces that show different parts of someone’s personality.” It is an attempt to capture a person’s emotional life, and Edward mentions how this work developed from his father’s work with portraits.

The son comes across as fairly dry, even unemotional, particularly in comparison with his parents, who are more passionate. That is interesting, because Edward is dedicating his time to publicizing and promoting his father’s art. You’d think his passion and enthusiasm for the work would be heard in every sentence he uttered. But what he seems most focused on is the prices of the prints and art he plans on displaying at a New York art exposition. He refers to his father’s paintings as “his product.”

The idea of fame is discussed by all three interview subjects, and what is interesting is their different perspectives regarding Victori’s work. Victori at one point does admit that he believes all of his work will be quite valuable someday after his death. Edward wants his father’s work to be appreciated while his father is still alive.

Because art critics and such are not interviewed, this documentary is really about the family more than about Victori’s place in the art world, and I believe therein lies its strength. What’s interesting is how the family views Victori’s place in the art world. Maria is convinced that Victori will one day be in the history books as one of the greatest painters. While that might sound a bit delusional, you have to keep in mind that Victori is far from unknown in the art world. And there’s nothing wrong with being famous as a portrait artist. Is his original work more interesting? Of course. Will he be known for it? I guess we’ll wait and see. But it’s great that his family believes so strongly in him. And it’s even better that Victori is happy with what he’s doing.

And partway through the film the family begins getting ready for an art exhibition. I love Edward’s reaction to seeing some of the works of other artists and suddenly being more worried about having his father’s work stand out. It’s the moment you become more emotionally involved in his quest.

There are some brief interviews with other exhibitors at the exposition, and those provide some of the film’s cutest moments. These include a father talking about collecting his daughter’s work for over forty years and deciding it was time for the public to see it – drawing an interesting connection to the Victori family’s quest. However, those being interviewed are not identified, which is an odd oversight. There is one man speaking about the art industry, and he seems to be coming from a point of expertise. But who is he?

There are a few other moments of sloppy filmmaking, with the shadow of a crew member seen during an interview with Edward, and later the boom microphone entering frame a couple of times during another interview. And there is an odd moment when Victori doesn’t understand the filmmaker’s question. The director keeps asking the question in pretty much the same way, a question about what influenced Victori in his work. Why include that? And some of the footage in which Edward is on the phone trying to guide his mother to the location of the exposition is unnecessary. But most of this film is interesting. And the art itself is especially fascinating.

Victori: The Truth Just Can’t Be One Thing was directed by Michael Melamedoff, and was released on DVD on March 3, 2015 through Garden Thieves Pictures. The DVD contains no special features.