A fine documentary that obsesses more about the artist's sex life than need be, but what powerful imagery on display!
Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato's fascinating documentary, Mapplethorpe:
Look at the Pictures, parades a multitude of the artist's photographs
as it depicts the life of this 70's icon. While the filmmakers seem more
obsessed with his personal sexual peccadilloes and his journey into
sadomasochism, they do give equal time to the his photographic legacy.
The film traces the artist's life from child until his death of AIDS in
1989. (He was 42 years old when he died.) Using many interviews from
friends, family members, models, and ex-lovers to form this portrait of a
artist, Robert Mapplethorpe's sex life is full frontal, as are his
large scale, black and white photographs of models with their flaccid
and erect male genitalia on display. All are matter-of-factly shown.
