The Cool School (2007)

92% of critics liked it
(26 reviews)
58% of users liked it
(406 ratings)

New York City has long been regarded as the heart of the American art movement, but near the end of the 1940s, as the post-war rise of Abstract Expressionism became the new wave of painting in the United States, a small but determined band of painters, curators, and collectors on the West Coast were… More New York City has long been regarded as the heart of the American art movement, but near the end of the 1940s, as the post-war rise of Abstract Expressionism became the new wave of painting in the United States, a small but determined band of painters, curators, and collectors on the West Coast were determined to make themselves known. Filmmaker Morgan Neville examines the rise of the Los Angeles art scene and how it brought a new and vigorously American slant to contemporary painting in the documentary The Cool School. Neville profiles Walter Hopps and Irving Blum, owners of the Ferus Gallery, which championed the new school of Los Angeles art; sculptors Ed Kienholz and Larry Bell; and painters Ed Ruscha, John Altoon, and Billy Al Bengston, all of whom were championed by the Ferus Gallery; architect Frank Gehry, whose ideas dovetailed with those of the new L.A. artists; and Dennis Hopper and Dean Stockwell, actors and Hollywood bohemians whose love of the new L.A. art (and willingness to buy pieces) provided crucial support for a struggling movement. Jeff Bridges serves as narrator. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 26 min.
Directed By: Morgan Neville
Written By: Morgan Neville, Kristine Mckenna
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Documentary

In Theaters: Mar 7, 2008 Wide
On DVD: Jul 29, 2008
Studio: Arthouse Films

Critic Reviews

Lou Lumenick, New York Post
Diverting.
Manohla Dargis, New York Times
The Cool School, a breezy, lively documentary about a thin slice of the Los Angeles fine art scene in the 1950s, is easy on the eyes, and the ears too.
John Anderson, Newsday
Cool School is a must for anyone interested in 20th century American art.
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
Documentarian Morgan Neville takes an appropriately lively, left-field approach to The Cool School's eye-opening history of the Beat-era Left Coast art scene -- a lesser-known chapter in the story of American modern art.
Nathan Lee, Village Voice
All told, and well told, this is essential history.
Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle
No one emerges very well defined from this historical shuffle, but those who know the artists' works, or names such as Hopps and Blum, but have never heard them speak, will find The Cool School absorbing and informative.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
The Cool School is a history of the LA art scene which will be most interesting for those who are involved in it.
Sam Jordison, Film4
Occasionally too reverent, this remains an effective evocation of a vibrant and interesting art scene, not to mention a touching paean to lost youth.
David Jenkins, Time Out
Morgan Neville's 'The Cool School' is a slickly packaged document of the burgeoning modern art scene in LA during the late '50s and early '60s which sadly submerges its fascinating subject matter in technical clutter and contrived set-ups.
James Plath, Movie Metropolis
Love their art or hate it, this is one of the best documentaries on the art world that I've seen.
Kam Williams, NewsBlaze
An art scene flick which can be readily appreciated for its valuable lesson that one need not be dependent on the New York Establishment or any Ivory Tower critics for validation.
David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com
The Cool School is neither as lively nor as complete as it could be, but as an introduction to modern art, it's a fine freshman course.
Geoff Berkshire, Metromix.com
Breezy doc lives up to its title.
Ron Stringer, L.A. Weekly
Veteran documentarist Morgan Neville's illustrated history of the painters and sculptors associated with Venice's Ferus Gallery (1957-1967) is at once lively and analytical.
Jules Brenner, Cinema Signals
Makes the case that there's more than basket weaving and freeway driving going on in the seedbed of originality we know as the Great Basin of L.A.
Sara Maria Vizcarrondo, Boxoffice Magazine
Sweeps you off your feet with quick-witted visuals and cleverly used archival footage.
David Noh, Film Journal International
Definitely proves that, contrary to certain opinions, Los Angeles is not a cultural wasteland where fine art is concerned.
Ron Wilkinson, Monsters and Critics
Surf's up in Southern California as the modern art world invades Nixonville and Reagan City in the 1950s. A fascinating look at the start of something big: modern art in Los Angeles.
Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Thoughtful and thought-provoking.
Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
Smart, jazzy and unafraid to deflate egos, Morgan Neville's fast-paced, finely critical study makes for a pungent intro to a movement now esteemed as a key alternative to the New York AbEx stranglehold.