Review of Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe (2007) by David Ray G — 03 Apr 2012

I was very excited to watch this documentary, but unfortunately, I almost hated it. It wore me out, it focused on the wrong aspects of things, it's unnecessarily long and for someone who isn't familiar with either one of the two people this movie deals with, then this film doesn't do such a great job in delivering their greatness to the audience.

However, this is the documentary where everyone should begin in order to learn more about Wagstaff and Mapplethorpe. Sam Wagstaff contributed in the reinvention of several art forms and Robert Mapplethorpe literally revived the black-and-white photography. Both men died of AIDS, Wagstaff in 1987 and his lover, Mapplethorpe, in 1989 -in a period when AIDS "killed" hundreds of mythic men.