Calling All The Beauty And The Bloodshed a “love letter to cinema” feels reductive, especially in the recent trend of fiction features paying homage to the silver screen. But Laura Poitras’ searing documentary, about the life and work of photographer Nan Goldin, is exactly that: an urgent portrait of the genuinely life-saving power of art, to honour and remember the dead, and demand that the living do more.
Goldin’s life is so rich that Poitras — whose sharp eye previously focused on Edward Snowden with the Oscar-winning Citizenfour, and the U.S. occupation of Iraq in My Country, My Country — chooses very specific moments to spotlight. But she ends up illuminating so much of what makes Goldin so singular anyway. Goldin's family was struck by tragedy when she was just 11, with the death of her sister by suicide; later, she would lose many friends during both the AIDS epidemic and the opioid crisis, and suffer from addiction herself. Buoyed by these experiences, Goldin became militant in her artistic and activist practice. It’s hard to remain unaffected by just how much she’s been through.
‘The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency’, an exhibition first mounted in 1985, is a slideshow of many of Goldin’s greatest photos, spanning 45 minutes and over 800 images, and arguably the centrepiece of her career. Those who might have seen it when the exhibit came to the Tate in London or toured many other cultural institutions will recognise that it was made for the big screen, earning somehow even greater poignancy and political force when woven into Poitras’ determined narrative. Here, Goldin is seen alongside the advocacy group she helped found, P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), in her mission to remove the Sackler family — who were involved in Purdue Pharma, the manufacturers of OxyContin — from any and all philanthropic contributions to art institutions.
Art can change the world, Poitras and Goldin tell us with powerful results, celebrating both the undeniable beauty and all the lethal pain that goes into living a life you want to remember. Goldin takes pictures so you’ll believe her; Poitras has made a film you’ll never forget.