Thursday, May 2, 2019

Martha: A Picture Story (2019) Tribeca 2019

Portrait of photographer Martha Cooper who is best known for her pictures of street art and hip hop culture. While she would like to be known for other things the street art images are what pay her bills.

The film is a loving portrait of the woman and her life's work. It is filled with stunning  images and intriguing stories about about how a "well to do woman" became the goddess of street society by simply caring enough to show up. We also get a great sense of her influence in popular culture and how her photos changed and saved lives.

I really enjoyed the hell out of this film. I love how we really get a sense of the creative life of Cooper and how her need to shoot and document drove her toward her passion projects street art and the changing face of her home town of Baltimore. While some may quibble that her personal life is largely left out its clear that anything other than the pictures and the family that it has given her is secondary.

This is a stunning film that has a very good chance of being in the Oscar mix.

One of the joys of Tribeca 2019.

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