The film starts with Robert in college, a budding artist who meets Patti, a wannabe poet at the time. Romance develops soon and the girl is even introduced to the family but soon Mapplethorpe's interest starts peaking into male body and genitalia and as soon as his homosexuality becomes evident Patti leaves him. A chance opportunity into taking photographs takes Robert's passion to the next level. He soon ,meets Sam, an older patron who sort of takes Robert under his wing and help him grow his photography skills, introduces him to the world of art and they both eventually become lovers. But soon Sam leaves him seeing that Robert needs to grow in his experience of various men and art. Robert's younger brother joins him as an assistant but he even mistreats him and treats just like an employee even asking him to give up his last name. His name starts growing and becomes popular and rich but he does have a sense of arrogance. We also see the parts where he takes up a male model Milton as his lover/muse but who eventually feels just being used by Robert and he leaves. Robert eventually gets sick and film ends with him dying on AIDS in 1989. His brother becomes the beneficiary of all his work, but the trust he created has apparently helped with hAIDS research with hover 50 M USD.
The film was more episodic in nature and it really didn't explore any of the things in details. Patti just comes and goes, so does Sam and Milton. I wish they were delved deeper. Even his relationship with his parents were not very clear. They were not monsters like Robert makes them out to be, but like most parents were unaccepting of his career and sexuality. It feels episodic and slow and feels boring. It's like one chapter after the other. The film , I guess uses a lot of Mapplethorpe's actual works and we see some scenes on how they were created and only those are the few interesting moments in the film. All actors do well but you never connect with them. It feels like a very bland biography of a seemingly controversial photographer.
Overall the film was a drag and I am not sure that for people who are aware of his work, this film does justice. (4/10)
Comments
Miisu commented on "Mapplethorpe"
4 hours ago
I've been on art and biography line recently and while at it I think I found what you were looking for when writing this review :)
There's a documentary (I wish someone included a warning in the beginning, for the more sensitive viewers to stock up on Kleenexes) that has quite many discussions about certain photographs, the baby brother gets to talk about their relationship and family background AND the issue of Robert asking him to change his last name also becomes clear. A genuinely well produced retrospective of an artist, focusing on his work and inspiration and driving forces behind it. "Mapplethorpe: Look at the pictures" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5275838/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_6_tt_6_nm_2_q_mapplethorpe). This film can even be considered educational since it teaches what to notice and look at in these photographs - and these skills can be applied to any other type of art as well.
And a half documentary/half recreating of the true story about the Cincinnati law suit case when the gallery owner who planned to have a show of Mapplethorpe's work was blamed for displaying obscenities. Crazy case with loads of drama and a happy ending. "Dirty Pictures" (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0217363/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_dirty%2520pictures)
Although the "Look at the pictures" was produced much later than the "Dirty Pictures", it's advisable to watch in this order since it's more chronological. I liked both of these pieces and both passed the crap check with flying colors - no crap detected :)