Movie review: Gerhard Richter Painting

Two and a half out of four stars.

Where: Lagoon.

They take their art stars seriously in Germany, where a press conference by painter Gerhard Richter draws a presidential-size throng of photogs and reporters. Richter, now 80, wealthy and famous, good-naturedly says his celebrity leaves him with "no time to paint." This documentary nonetheless spends at least half of its 97 minutes observing Richter at work in an enormous studio in Cologne. The focus is on his current style, Abstract Squeegee-ism, in which Richter paints a gestural Abstract Expressionistic canvas, then rakes over it with giant, paint-laden squeegees. Richter gives off a heroic, creator-of-the-universe air as he strains to push the squeegee, creating a new world in his wake. The illegibility of many of the subtitles is annoying. (Unrated.)