Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Dirty Pictures (2000)

Director: Frank Pierson

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Reality meets genre in a pacy exploration of events surrounding the Robert Mapplethorpe's posthumous 1990 exhibition. Notorious for his frank depiction of children and gay SM practices, the American photographer was admired and reviled. When Dennis Barrie (Woods), director of the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, goes ahead with the show, despite pressure from his Board and right-wing campaigners, obscenity charges are brought. The trial tests Barrie's family ties, while shaping as a key battle in the struggle for freedom of expression. So far, so worthy (and worthwhile), but the film lifts off from its factual origins to deliver a major plea for tolerance and minority understanding, and against political censorship in culture generally. Coming over at times like a radical left-field essay film, it weaves talking heads (Salman Rushdie, William Buckley Jr, politicos and creatives) with archive and news footage to build a profound argument about the ramifications for the entire community of such 'slippery slope' behaviour.

Author: GE 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Frank Pierson

Producer: Michael Manheim, Vicky Herman

Cast: Ann Marin, James Woods, Craig T Nelson, Diana Scarwid, Leon Pownall, David Huband, Judah Katz, RD Reid full cast

Duration: 104 mins


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.