Delayed Reaction: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed

Premise: A documentary about a famous artist who uses her clout to fight the Sackler family, who are behind much of the opioid crisis.

The best thing about All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is how well it mixes two stories. The first is the life story of photographer Nan Goldin. The second is the story of the opioid crisis largely caused by the Sackler family's release of Oxycontin, and their work to wash their name by donating money to the arts. The movie never goes too long without addressing one story or the other. I could've watched a documentary about either on their own and remained plenty interested.

I do struggle sometimes with movies about famous artists though. I don't know much about the modern art and photography world. It's hard for me to distinguish between a movie that is covering a significant artist from a movie made to inflate the importance of an artist. I really just rely on the fact that Nan Goldin has an interesting life and if she's good enough to be in some of the museum galleries she's protesting then she's probably a big deal.

Similarly, I don't know how impressive her group's protests really are. By the time this movie picks up, it's not like the Sacklers are beloved. The main point of their protests is just to remind people who the Sacklers are. One of the big moments in the movie is when they are throwing the pamphlets from all levels of that one museum (MoMA, I think). They talk about it like some transcendent experience; where they are shocked when additional people join in their cheering. It didn't seem that triumphant to me though. It doesn't take a lot of convincing to join in calling the Sacklers awful. Of course everyone in the museum will take their side. I'm a cynic about protests though. I'm always late to catching onto the moment when they go from hysterics to real calls to action.

Verdict: Weakly Recommend