Award-winning documentarian Ondi Timoner (Dig!) creates her first fiction feature as an episodic ramble, rather than a wild ride. Ticking off famous encounters - an affair with Marianne Rendón's Patti Smith, his careermaking partnership with gay curator Sam Wagstaff (John Benjamin Hickey) - the script feels like a dutiful life-list, its dialogue creakily banal ("You're the Jekyll and Hyde of photography!"). Shot quickly, and on a small budget, the action's confined to stylish interiors, which gives it a shut-in feeling. Smith throws himself gamely into the part, but his languid performance can't spark the movie into life, even when drugs, Aids and heartbreak kick in. Set against Mapplethorpe's taboo-busting work, this homage feels oddly conventional, though it never swerves his hedonistic nightlife. Curious art lovers can check out 2016 doc Robert Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures for a smarter, spicier take on his fine work and fast times.
