Wednesday, April 12, 2023

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED (2022)


ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOOSHED is the story of Nan Goldin and her battle with the Sackler family (the family behind the Oxy and other opioid epidemics).

Oscar nominated documentary was the talk of last year’s New York Film Festival with everyone making it a must see. I missed it and was chomping at the bit to see it. I finally caught up with the film thanks to HBO and I’m kind of puzzled by the Oscar nomination.

Told in as a mix of Goldin’s legendary slide shows that splices together all her work and a current footage of Goldin battling the Sacklers the film attempts to tell the tale of woman whose past has lead her to fight the good fight for the good of humanity. It’s good but odd film. It’s odd because the two stories never fully blended. It feels like they took a good bio of Goldin and welded it with a social justice film and let the chips fall as they may. While I understand that things in Goldin’s past are the reason she wants to take the Sacklers down, I don’t think there is enough here to justify the two hour running time, at least as a split tale. Frankly I think the two halves are better than the whole.

The film is definitely worth a look, just be prepared to have interest begin to lag about the half way point.

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