2008 Woodie Awards
Watch Factory Girl
Jingjing Tian
Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Opinion
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I must admit I am a bit obsessed with the 60's New York scene and this fascination led me to see Factory Girl, the story of Andy Warhol's most famous muse, Edie Sedgwick. Sedgwick was beautiful, charismatic, crazy and chaotic. No one really knew if she was a socialite, artist, muse, model, actress or all of the above. Her life was like a blurred picture that ended with an overdose at the age of 28. Like a blurred picture, we are unsure of what exactly happened in those years. The movie is similar.
Factory Girl is not a film of accuracy, elaborating immensely on Sedgwick's relationships with Fuzzy, her father, and Bob Dylan, known as "rock star" in the movie. The real Bob Dylan had his name removed from the movie by threatening a defamation lawsuit. The film also invented a power struggle between the "rock star" and Andy Warhol that ended in a clash at Warhol's silver factory.
The movie remade former pictures and movies of Edie and Andy with Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce. Miller looks uncannily similar to the real Edie Sedgwick. Miller embodied Sedgwick in every way as an uncontrolled glamour child that had money and the world at her feet, consumed by the free experimentation with drugs and expectations that failed to materialize. I cringed as she sunk lower and lower into heroine addiction. Guy Pearce should be applauded for his imitation of Andy Warhol. Pearce was both sensitive and vicious, revealing and concealed. His performance made me despise and love Andy even more.
The best moment in the movie was when Andy learned of Edie and Bob's relationship, conveying a child like jealousy without contorting one facial feature as he slowly distanced himself from her. Did Andy leave Edie as soon as he saw her step away from him? Did Andy invite and drive the chaos around him, encouraging drug use while he watched? Or was Edie simply too weak and allowed herself to be used? In this sense, the movie was successful in that it was able to draw raw emotions from its characters that invited discussion and argument from the audience as we realize the precarious nature of the rich and famous.
Factory Girl is rated R and is now playing at the City Cinemas Angelika Film Center in the village and AMC Lowes Lincoln Square 13.
Factory Girl is not a film of accuracy, elaborating immensely on Sedgwick's relationships with Fuzzy, her father, and Bob Dylan, known as "rock star" in the movie. The real Bob Dylan had his name removed from the movie by threatening a defamation lawsuit. The film also invented a power struggle between the "rock star" and Andy Warhol that ended in a clash at Warhol's silver factory.
The movie remade former pictures and movies of Edie and Andy with Sienna Miller and Guy Pearce. Miller looks uncannily similar to the real Edie Sedgwick. Miller embodied Sedgwick in every way as an uncontrolled glamour child that had money and the world at her feet, consumed by the free experimentation with drugs and expectations that failed to materialize. I cringed as she sunk lower and lower into heroine addiction. Guy Pearce should be applauded for his imitation of Andy Warhol. Pearce was both sensitive and vicious, revealing and concealed. His performance made me despise and love Andy even more.
The best moment in the movie was when Andy learned of Edie and Bob's relationship, conveying a child like jealousy without contorting one facial feature as he slowly distanced himself from her. Did Andy leave Edie as soon as he saw her step away from him? Did Andy invite and drive the chaos around him, encouraging drug use while he watched? Or was Edie simply too weak and allowed herself to be used? In this sense, the movie was successful in that it was able to draw raw emotions from its characters that invited discussion and argument from the audience as we realize the precarious nature of the rich and famous.
Factory Girl is rated R and is now playing at the City Cinemas Angelika Film Center in the village and AMC Lowes Lincoln Square 13.
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