Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 2019
There Are No Fakes
Buy There Are No Fakes now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'There Are No Fakes' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Jamie Kastner and released in 2019.Dorothy Woodend, [https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2019/06/14/Documentary-Norval-Morrisseau/ "Forgery, Drugs, Money and Art: Documentary Dives into Legacy of Norval Morrisseau"]. 'The Tyee', June 14, 2019. Starting with musician Kevin Hearn's lawsuit against the Maslak McLeod Gallery after being informed that a Norval Morrisseau painting he had purchased appeared to be a forgery,Alison Gillmor, [https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/entertainment/movies/canadian-doc-offers-dark-take-on-art-fakes-542088572.html "Canadian doc offers dark take on art fakes"]. 'Winnipeg Free Press', August 15, 2019. the film expands into an expos of a significant art fraud ring that has produced many fake Morrisseau paintings through the use of forced child labour in sweatshops, in which some of Morrisseau's own surviving family members are complicit;Chris Knight, [https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/movies/the-story-of-norval-morrisseaus-contested-art-is-as-riveting-as-it-is-complicated-in-there-are-no-fakes "The story of Norval Morrisseau's contested art is as riveting as it is complicated in There Are No Fakes"]. 'National Post', June 12, 2019. by some estimates, there may be up to 10 times as much fake Morrisseau art on the market as real work.Ken Eisner, [https://www.straight.com/movies/1253626/drugs-abuse-and-art-hoax-converge-there-are-no-fakes "Drugs, abuse, and an art hoax converge in There Are No Fakes"]. 'The Georgia Straight', June 12, 2019.
At the time of the film's release, Hearn's lawsuit had been dismissed by the courts on the grounds that he could not definitively prove that the painting was fake; in September 2019, the decision was overturned by the Ontario Court of Appeal, which awarded Hearn $60,000 on the grounds that the legal onus was actually on the gallery owner to prove that the painting was real, which he also could not do.Adam Wallis, [https://globalnews.ca/news/5853867/barenaked-ladies-guitarist-fake-painting/ "Barenaked Ladies guitarist awarded $60K after buying fake painting"]. Global News, September 4, 2019.
The film premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in 2019.[https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/thunder-bay/there-are-no-fakes-morrisseau-1.5114954 "'So many wild twists and turns': film explores alleged forgery of thousands of Norval Morrisseau works"]. CBC News Thunder Bay, April 29, 2019. It received selected other theatrical screenings through 2019, including at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary and the Thunder Bay Art Gallery in Thunder Bay.Andrew Parker, [https://www.thegate.ca/film/039506/review-there-are-no-fakes/ "Review: There Are No Fakes"]. 'TheGATE.ca', June 12, 2019. It had its television premiere on TVOntario on February 1, 2020.Paola Loriggio, [https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/television/2020/01/31/barenaked-ladies-kevin-hearn-bought-a-norval-morrisseau-painting-and-ended-up-in-the-middle-of-an-art-world-feud.html "Barenaked Ladies Kevin Hearn bought a Norval Morrisseau painting and ended up in the middle of an art-world feud"]. 'Toronto Star', January 31, 2020.
Reception
'There Are No Fakes' was released on April 29, 2019 at the Hot Docs International Documentary Film Festival.Critical reception to the film was varied. The Winnipeg Free Press says that despite being "overly long" at points, it is "is a stunning picture of colonial exploitation and stolen Indigenous patrimony". The Globe and Mail described 'There Are No Fakes' as "a shocking tale of counterfeit art, sexual abuse and colonialist exploitation."
L.A Hawbaker offered in their review for 'PopMatters' that Kastner uses 'There Are No Fakes' to emphasize the fact that those benefitting from Morriseau's work were white men. They then go on to say that "the crimes that took place at the Bingwi reserve are just a small sampling of the societal harm done to indigenous populations in Canada".
Awards
References
Buy There Are No Fakes now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 2019