It's not art, it's just a movie, albeit a superficial one. It's entertaining and worth watching for two very good performances by Guy Pearce and Sienna Miller. But it doesn't ask any deep questions nor does it pretend to be something it's not. The movie pretty much captures the shallow, transient and utterly facile world of Warhol in the sixties and in another way it sums up the emptiness and tragedy of the Hollywood dream machine too. However, there it is on the soundtrack being played in the factory sometime in 1965. For instance, "Leavin' here" by The Birds, a British group in which Ronnie Wood was the guitarist, was recorded in 1966 but was never released in America. The Chelsea Hotel, the Velvet Underground, a soundtrack of songs that sound right but which actually don't fit at all. ![]() Nothing in the movie has much depth, none of the characters are developed beyond what we already know about them and the whole sixties New York scene is represented by a series of iconic "things". ![]() She flashes across the screen like a speeded up Holly Golighty, while Warhol's voyeuristic viewfinder traps her in it's leering stare. Caught in the strobe lights of Warhol's strangely sterile world of non-sexual sex and sofas still in their plastic wrappers, Edie becomes the focus of his short attention span for a while. Sienna Miller's performance as Edie Sedgewick is the best thing she's ever done. Pearce's performance is riveting, his Andy Warhol is as empty as his crapulous art just a two-dimensional diagram of someone who leaves no shadow. The original art-as-business creator, the very God at whose altar such modern day charlatans as Damien Hirst worship. Guy Pearce presents Andy Warhol as the superficial creature he undoubtedly was. Andy Warhol was never a real person, just a performance. Just in case you read some of the rather hysterical comments and garner the impression that it's supposed to be about real people, it's not. Reviewed by terraplane 7 / 10 Superficial superstars Attempting to explain what we had just watched is a pure indication that the job had not been done well. The weakness of the film is best shown by the interviews over the closing credits. Her talent is undeniable and although it is a pleasure to see her performance as Edie, she deserves a much wider audience. It could be later this year when she re-teams with her "Layer Cake" director. That role has just not quite happened yet. Miller will at some point break out and become the film star she is destined to become. The physical and emotional turmoil seems very real as Edie goes from top of world to desperation for life. Other support comes from Mena Suvari as Edie's friend, Beth Grant as Warhol's mom, Don Novello (Father Guido from early SNL), and Illeana Douglas as Diana Vreeland.īy far the best part of this project is the performance of Sienna Miller as Edie Sedgwick. Aussie Guy Pearce does a nice impersonation of Warhol and Jimmy Fallon has his first serious role. The film is overly choppy in attempting to find the right look and feel and yet with Jagger, Velvet Underground and the Dylanesque Hayden Christensen, the importance and power of music for this era is clearly established. Of course, those things were not enough to carve out any real territory and the ending, while tragic, is not at all surprising. No real talent herself, her name, family money and looks got her inside the art world and exceptionally close to Warhol. Edie was really the first to make being famous a job. While we do spend a good portion of the film in The Factory, this is more the tragic story of Edie, rather than an insightful look at Warhol's art. "Factory Girl" probably has little hope of attracting much attention from movie-goers as well. Director George Hickenlooper's best work has been "Mayor of Sunset Strip" and "Dogtown", neither of which drew much of an audience. Andy Warhol and The Factory poses quite the challenge to any filmmaker attempting to capture the look, feel and pain of that world unto itself. ![]() Reviewed by ferguson-6 6 / 10 You're the Boss, Applesauce
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