Scan and Pan
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Factory Girl
Socialite Edie Sedgwick drops out of art school in Cambridge in 1965 and, inspired by Holly Golightly, moves to New York City, where she meets artist Andy Warhol. Under Warhol's tutelage in his studio known as The Factory, she becomes famous for being famous, and gets caught up in the drugs and sex prevalent in the scene.
George Hickenlooper (The Killing Box, The Big Brass Ring) tries to be self-consciously arty in his direction of the film, and the end result is incoherent and pretentious. This approach simply doesn't allow the viewer to become engaged by the story or the characters. The screenplay by Josh Klausner (using the pseudonym Captain Mauzner) is the largest part of the problem, because it doesn't dig deep into the psyches of the characters. It's all very shallow, more travelog than revealing biography. Edie went there, said that, or did that, etc. When the film ends, we know little more about her than we did when it began.
Cinematographer Michael Grady (Wonderland), production designer Jeremy Reed (Hard Candy), and costume designer John A. Dunn (The Notorious Bettie Page) do an excellent job of bringing the world of The Factory back to life and applying the visual style of Warhol's own films.
Although the film is about Edie, it's Guy Pearce as Warhol who steals the film. He's so perfect that it's like he's channeling the spirit of Warhol, right down to every icily pretentious twitch of the face, and suggests more depth than the role as written. Sienna Miller offers a good imitation of Edie, but the combination of weak characterization and her inability to go beyond the surface in her performance dooms the central role to one of pouting, moping, and occasional bouts of unconvincing histrionics. Mena Suvari is a little more interesting as fellow Factory girl Richie Berlin. Hayden Christensen is miscast and wooden as singer Billy Quinn (a thinly veiled Bob Dylan).
Factory Girl is a pretentious indie film with delusions of making an artistic statement. While I can't think of a better summation for Warhol's career, it simply doesn't work for a film that wants to explain who Edie Sedgwick was and why she was the way she was. Not recommended.
By all accounts Edie Sedgwick lived an interesting life, but if you want to know what made her tick, don't expect to discover that in this film.
Socialite Edie Sedgwick drops out of art school in Cambridge in 1965 and, inspired by Holly Golightly, moves to New York City, where she meets artist Andy Warhol. Under Warhol's tutelage in his studio known as The Factory, she becomes famous for being famous, and gets caught up in the drugs and sex prevalent in the scene.
George Hickenlooper (The Killing Box, The Big Brass Ring) tries to be self-consciously arty in his direction of the film, and the end result is incoherent and pretentious. This approach simply doesn't allow the viewer to become engaged by the story or the characters. The screenplay by Josh Klausner (using the pseudonym Captain Mauzner) is the largest part of the problem, because it doesn't dig deep into the psyches of the characters. It's all very shallow, more travelog than revealing biography. Edie went there, said that, or did that, etc. When the film ends, we know little more about her than we did when it began.
Cinematographer Michael Grady (Wonderland), production designer Jeremy Reed (Hard Candy), and costume designer John A. Dunn (The Notorious Bettie Page) do an excellent job of bringing the world of The Factory back to life and applying the visual style of Warhol's own films.
Although the film is about Edie, it's Guy Pearce as Warhol who steals the film. He's so perfect that it's like he's channeling the spirit of Warhol, right down to every icily pretentious twitch of the face, and suggests more depth than the role as written. Sienna Miller offers a good imitation of Edie, but the combination of weak characterization and her inability to go beyond the surface in her performance dooms the central role to one of pouting, moping, and occasional bouts of unconvincing histrionics. Mena Suvari is a little more interesting as fellow Factory girl Richie Berlin. Hayden Christensen is miscast and wooden as singer Billy Quinn (a thinly veiled Bob Dylan).
Factory Girl is a pretentious indie film with delusions of making an artistic statement. While I can't think of a better summation for Warhol's career, it simply doesn't work for a film that wants to explain who Edie Sedgwick was and why she was the way she was. Not recommended.
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