Everybody loves a good scam, right? Recently arriving on Netflix is Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art. This documentary is about “the largest art fraud in American history set in the super rich, super obsessed and super fast art world of New York.”
Who’s involved?
Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art was initially released last year, however it just arrived on Netflix on February 23. It follows a multi-million dollar ($80.7 million) art scheme done under the false identity of Mr. X.
It was revealed that the paintings were faked after a buyer discovered that the yellow paint used in a piece advertised to be created by the abstract artist Jackson Pollock was invented after the man’s death.
The director and co-writer of the documentary is filmmaker Barry Avrich. Avrich is best-known for his work creating movie adaptations of infamous Shakespeare works including Henry VIII (2020), The Tempest (2019) and King Lear (2015).
He has also produced numerous documentaries, including Reversal of Fortune: The Unraveling of Turkey’s Democracy and Woman Who Act. Avrich has won multiple awards for his work, including two Canadian Screen Awards.
Actor Melissa Hood served as the co-writer and story editor. Prior to Made You Look, she wrote and produced the documentary The Reckoning: Hollywood’s Worst Kept Secret .
What are people saying?
Made You Look has gotten a plethora of positive reviews from critics. Owen Gleiberman from Variety has called it a “lively and fascinating stranger-than-fiction art-world doc.”
Its recent release to Netflix has also brought up some online commentary from watchers. On February 23, the official Twitter account for Netflix shared the documentary on its page.
Along with a trailer for the documentary, Netflix wrote, “Made You Look is the true story about the fake painting scam that swindled the art world out of more than 80 million dollars! Now on Netflix.”
One fan wrote on Twitter, “Love a good con, especially an art world con! So of course I enjoyed every bit of Made You Look.”
Another called it, “absolutely riveting.”
The general consensus of the crime documentary seems to be positive. People are enjoying Made You Look’s investigative peek into the fancy world of art— and the outplay of this con’s addictive downfall.
Made You Look: A True Story about Fake Art is now streaming on Netflix.
I thought the guy sitting next to Jeffrey Taylor in all the Jeffrey Taylor takes really brought it all together. I mean without that guys insightful contributions fleshing out some of the less covered areas of this documentary, we’d have been left with so many questions. That guy should have his own talk show, hands down, or folded.