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‘Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness’ Review: Johnny Depp’s Broad, Busy Modigliani Biopic


Johnny Depp directs 'Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness,' channeling the soul of an artist under-appreciated in his own time.

Adapted from a 1979 play by the late Dennis McIntyre, the long-gestating “Modi” was once mooted as an acting-directing vehicle for Al Pacino — whose involvement is now limited to a ripe single-scene cameo as famed art collector Maurice Gangnat, presented here as one of the many art-world elders who couldn’t identify the extent of Modigliani’s genius. When he’s refused sanctuary by Beatrice Hastings (Antonia Desplat), the famed British writer and his on-off lover, he goes bar-crawling instead with fellow scoundrel artists Chaim Soutine (Ryan McParland) and Maurice Utrillo (Bruno Gouery, more or less replicating his nutty bohemian act from TV’s “Emily in Paris” in period garb). What ensues is a hangout movie to some extent, following the trio’s Rabelaisian antics as they mutually seek purpose, inspiration and budget booze on the seamier side of the City of Lights — while Modigliani sporadically drops in on his bumbling art-dealer friend Leopold Zborowski (Stephen Graham) to see if interest in his work has picked up at all.

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