Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
Using a specially designed transparent 'canvas' to provide an unobstructed view, Picasso creates as the camera rolls. He begins with simple works that take shape after only a single brush stroke. He then progresses to more complex paintings, in which he repeatedly adds and removes elements, transforming the entire scene at will, until at last the work is complete.
The Mystery of Picasso is a singular, one-of-a-kind documentary that turns the act of painting into pure cinema. Its cinematographic conceit — shooting through a transparent canvas to capture Picasso's brush strokes in real time — is genuinely inventive and has never been meaningfully replicated, earning it top marks for both Novelty and Cinematography. As a documentary with no traditional narrative or dramatic arc, Plot and Acting are structurally limited categories: there is no plot to speak of beyond the unfolding of creation itself, and Picasso's on-screen presence, while magnetic, is not 'acting' in any conventional sense. The ending, while poignant in its meditation on destruction and completion, is somewhat abrupt and doesn't fully resolve the film's philosophical undercurrents, landing slightly above average rather than exceptional.