THE UNTOLD TALES OFAMISTEAD MAUPIN
US, 2017, 90 minutes, Colour.
Interviews with: Neal Gaiman, Jonathan Groff, Olympia Dukakis, Laura Linney, Kate Bornstein, Margaret Cho, Charles Busch.
Directed by Jennifer M.Kroot.
This is a documentary with interest on various levels.
The focus is the journalist and novelist, Amistead Maupin, famous for his writings about the 1970s, appearing in local San Francisco papers, then a column in the San Francisco Chronicle, which eventually became his column, Tales of the City, leading to quite a number of books novelising these stories. He continued writing over many decades, branching out to other novels like The Night Listener (filmed with Robin Williams).
There were television adaptations of his novels, the first series in 1993, Tales of the City, followed in 1998 by More Tales and in 2001 by Further Tales… 18 years later a substantial series, with episodes running to 90 minutes each, an update on the central characters, plus new ones, of Tales of the City, 2019. Maupin himself wrote some of the scripts for the 1998 and 2001 series. He can also be glimpsed in several of the episodes, one looking at him through a window at his desk typing (which recurs throughout this film).
Which means that he was a significant figure in popular culture of the late 20th century.
The impact of the film will depend on audience familiarity with Maupin himself, with his television series and clips.
This film works as a biography, his being born in the 1940s, growing up in the 1950s, from the American south, from a family which had some aristocratic links in the past. He had a strong-minded, a traditional father, a loving mother. The film outlines his studies, his wanting to write, his enlisting and his experience of war in Vietnam, his conservative bent, his meeting (and photo) with President Nixon, the reality of his being closeted, his sexual orientation, changing attitudes in the 1970s, then chronicling life in San Francisco, especially the more public emergence of homosexuality and aspects of gay life in San Francisco, the stories focusing mainly on the 1970s and early 80s – and then later, the aftermath in the 21st-century.
There are interesting political aspects during the film, his work for the Conservative senator Jesse Helms, clips from Helms and his denunciations in the American Congress, but is also working with John Kerry and concern about Vietnam veterans and their treatment. As a journalist, he explains that he felt it appropriate, with the past friendship with Rock Hudson, to make public his suffering from AIDS (and a number of clips illustrating this as well as commentators criticising him) and outing Lily Tomlin.
The film can be seen as the biography of a gay man, one from the 1940s, keeping his secret to the age of 25, coming out, the experience of San Francisco, the gay culture, the Castro area, the baths and aspects of the life. It also traces his own experiences, relationships, partners, the experience of AIDS and death. It also focuses on his marriage to Chris Turner and their partnership.
There is quite a range of talking heads throughout the film, throwing light on his life, personality, his career. There is a strong friendship with the two main actresses in the television series who contribute quite a deal to this documentary, Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney. There are a number of San Francisco personalities, comedians and actors, Margaret Cho, Kate Hornstein, Peggy Knickerbocker, actor Jonathan Groff. There is the novelist Amy Tan, actor Charles Busch, and, because of his later worldwide success, Ian Mc Kellen who met Maupin who influenced him to come out and become politically involved for the gay movement. Mc Kellen also appeared in one of the series. There are substantial number of interviews with British novelist, Neal Gaiman. And there is the presence of Maupin’s partner, Chris Turner.
The documentary is briskly put together, a number of chapters illustrated with design and animation.
