The combination of Matt Smith's acting and Ondi Timoner's direction is really something to savor. You would never imagine Matt in a role like this, and his immersion in Mapplethorpe's identity is increasingly riveting to watch as the film progresses. Mapplethorpe never became comfortable, tame or mellow in his life, and the tension Smith builds captures that restlessness.
Timoner's career of genre-defining documentaries about troubled men and their art make her the perfect director to create a scripted biography of an artist like Mapplethorpe. She understands the power of lived moments that can visually capture a person's inner life. There are times when Smith and Timoner create such a convincing palette of raw and real emotions and interactions that the doc/biopic line blurred.
What really struck me though was the way the film/acting/direction deepened as I watched it. I got more and more hooked in. Mapplethorpe was never in the habit of making people feel comfortable, and that confrontational character trait becomes more and more palpable...even transferring off the screen and into the room (saw it at home).
By the end of the film I was transfixed. His death was beautiful...something very hard to do in a film - and something impossible to accomplish in a documentary. I've seen the documentaries about him. They are powerful and inspiring, but also very challenging and tragic. Seeing this film was something very different. It was beautiful, poignant and poetic.
Timoner's career of genre-defining documentaries about troubled men and their art make her the perfect director to create a scripted biography of an artist like Mapplethorpe. She understands the power of lived moments that can visually capture a person's inner life. There are times when Smith and Timoner create such a convincing palette of raw and real emotions and interactions that the doc/biopic line blurred.
What really struck me though was the way the film/acting/direction deepened as I watched it. I got more and more hooked in. Mapplethorpe was never in the habit of making people feel comfortable, and that confrontational character trait becomes more and more palpable...even transferring off the screen and into the room (saw it at home).
By the end of the film I was transfixed. His death was beautiful...something very hard to do in a film - and something impossible to accomplish in a documentary. I've seen the documentaries about him. They are powerful and inspiring, but also very challenging and tragic. Seeing this film was something very different. It was beautiful, poignant and poetic.