Never Met Picasso

Having gay characters does not make for a gay film and having interesting characters does not always make for an interesting film.

Andrew Magnus (Alexis Arquette) is the last of a Boston arts family. Alfred, his aging uncle is a painter and Genna, his mother, is an avant-garde theatre performer. All three are gay but that seems to have no real point in the story. Andrew is blocked in his painting and without inspiration (not unlike this film) The characters have their interesting aspects but we don't learn enough about any of them to really care about them. There was a young man David, that both mother and uncle cared for but he died in Viet Nam, we hear very little about him. Instead we see and hear about the gallery crowd and the flamboyant artists that populate the Magnus' lives and all of the openings, exhibits and parties that occupy their time.

I may be a philistine and may be missing the higher meanings here, but I think it's just that there are no higher meanings here. The film stopped short of greatness and got tangled up with flash and form over any real substance.