Mastering The "Art and Craft" of Being Creepy for No Clear Reason

Hey everyone,

After writing my previous post about "The Jewel Thief" (2023), I realized I've actually watched several movies in the con artist documentary subgenre recently.  For example: "Art and Craft" (2014).

Contrary to "The Jewel Thief", which was interesting enough but ultimately limited by its somewhat formulaic structure, "Art and Craft" is in many ways a departure from the typical tropes of con artistry.  The story it tells is bizarre in ways that make it stand out as unique and memorable in a niche of films that, like any niche, can get a bit same-y.

The most dramatic and perplexing deviation from the usual patterns of this subgenre is that Mark Landis, the art forger who is the central figure of the film, doesn't con people for money.  It's clear he gets something out of fooling possibly dozens of arts institutions into displaying his falsified pieces because they believe the works are authentic, but it's not clear what that something is, exactly?  There is a skin-crawly aspect to contemplating what drives Landis that makes this movie both incredibly fascinating and unsettling.  I don't really want to be in this person's brain, yet "Art and Craft" beckons us to curiously wander around inside, seeking what makes Landis tick.

Furthermore, because Landis isn't technically breaking any laws--he only donates his forged art, never sells it--he is not being actively pursued by law enforcement.  Instead, seemingly the only or at least the primary person investigating, tracking, and trying to catch Landis is Matthew Leininger, who first detected Landis's duplicity while Leininger was working at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.  A clear parallel emerges between Landis's obsessive forgery and Leininger's obsessive quest to stop Landis, with both men's fixations driven by idiosyncratic motivations not even they may fully understand.

"Art and Craft" delves into Landis's life, including his family history and his current odd, isolated existence living in the apartment he shared with his mother until her death.  He also demonstrates several of his forging techniques with the blithe ease of a person showing off a collection of tchotchkes they take only a passing interest in.  Yet that blasé demeanor clearly belies an intensity of interest--both in creating extremely convincing forgeries and, likely, in being documented for his titular crafting of art--and is either a put-on or the byproduct, perhaps, of Landis's extensive psychiatric history.  

In fact, we not only learn about Landis's extensive history of psychiatric treatment and institutionalization in his early life, but also accompany him during several appointments with mental health providers and social workers, adding yet another layer of divergence from the usual path these films take.  Instead of the documentary casting Landis as some kind of psychopathic genius badass, as is so unfortunately common with these movies, "Art and Craft" reveals a surprising duality in Landis: he is at once extraordinarily talented at both fabricating artworks and, bafflingly, at fooling people into accepting them as real, but also is so inscrutable and seemingly fragile that it bends credulity that he has been as "successful" as he has.

But maybe the latter is also part of the con?  It's honestly impossible to know.

The final major difference between this film and others like it is the climactic confrontation: Instead of a flurry of police stings, confiscation of incriminating evidence, and court charges, "Art and Craft" reaches its climax at an exhibition of Landis's art that Leininger helped orchestrate.  Watching Landis circulate amongst the show's patrons and interact with Leininger is truly one of the most bizarre and awkward moments I've seen in a documentary in recent memory.  In the literal sense of the word, it is incredible.

So, if you're in the mood for an outside-the-box documentary about a wily con artist that will definitely keep you interested and ill-at-ease, please enjoy(?) "Art and Craft".

I gave it a 4, not because it's at all unsuccessful, but because it's the kind of movie I simultaneously respect and don't want to watch again.

{Heart}