My fourth selection from the Cinetopia Film Festival wasn’t a documentary, but a biopic, titled Mapplethorpe. Actors recreated scenes from the life of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. His photos are quite artistic. But some cringe from a frequent subject matter – naked men and women, sometimes emphasizing the private parts.
As Mapplethorpe was approaching death from AIDS he helped put together a solo exhibit. It toured to several galleries after his death. One gallery pulled out to avoid risking a grant from the National Endowment from the Arts. The head of a gallery in Cincinnati was arrested on obscenity charges when the show opened there. But since that happened after Mapplethorpe’s death the movie merely mentioned it at the close.
The movie was interesting, but not fascinating. It showed him developing as an artist, meeting the people who would help him advance in the art world, his lovers, and his estrangement from his family – his parents didn’t approve of his ways. His brother Edward eventually became an assistant, though even that was a bit rocky.
You can see some of his work at his foundation’s website. Though the movie wasn’t stellar, the artwork is.
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