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Wilmington
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Factory Girl
In the same way that, freed of having to carry the film on his shoulders, Martin Landau not only delivered the definitive portrait of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, but gave the movie a justification for continued existence it would otherwise have not achieved, so, too, does Guy Pearce deliver an Oscar-worthy turn as Andy Warhol in Factory Girl, while simultaneously validating the entire expense and effort that went into the movie's production. The film is a keeper. Sienna Miller has the title role, portraying the young socialite and Warhol model, Edie Sedgwick, whose place in American cultural history was certified by the publication of an innovative oral biography after she died of a drug overdose. Her story was also told in the excellent supplementary section of a DVD capitalizing on that publication, Ciao, Manhattan!, an otherwise forgettable film that typified the extent of her acting and modeling career. Miller's performance is competent but not Oscar-worthy. She is good enough to carry the film or, in other words, give you an excuse to see Pearce's achievement, but once in a while, either because of the limitations of director George Hickenlooper's skills, or because of her own inability to sustain such an extensive part, especially under an exceptionally hectic production timetable, she momentarily drops the mask here and there. It is no matter, though. The 100-minute feature, which has been released by Weinstein Company Home Entertainment with the subheading, Sexy. Uncut. Unrated. (UPC#796019804943, $29), creates a stimulating social portrait of the New York art scene in the Sixties, and adequately tracks the tragic emotional and spiritual path of its troubled heroine. Such movies come and go, however, and the 2006 feature, which has been given a fresh and definitive cut for its DVD release after a botched sprint to prepare the film in time for award season, would be little more than a passing curiosity were it not for Pearce's performance. At least a dozen actors have played Warhol previously, and most have done a decent job because it's a juicy, eccentric part with distinctive affectations and minimal emotional expression. Pearce, however, does more, achieving, in every scene he is in, a transparency that only the viewer can perceive, allowing one to read the thoughts and feelings behind his eyes even as the characters surrounding him are oblivious or half-oblivious to his inner self. It is the most emotionally comprehensive portrait of Warhol ever brought to the screen, and considering how evasive and inscrutable the artist was, even around his closest companions, Pearce's accomplishment is equal to that of the finest biographies yet to come.The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The color transfer is solid, and as the movie deliberately shifts between smooth and grainy images to convey the involvement the characters themselves had with still and moving film, the DVD follows along without a misstep. The 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound has a few choice separation effects and a crisp delivery.
Like the supplement in Ciao, Manhattan, the movie's end credit scroll includes a replication of the oral biography format in which those who were involved with the film's research and knew Sedgwick talk about various aspects of her life, and this format is also carried over in a 28-minute supplementary featurette, essentially containing outtakes from what was used for the end credits. There is just one, minute-long deleted scene featuring Miller and Pearce, but it is a worthwhile bit. Also featured is a trailer, a 10-minute production documentary, 20 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage shot by Pearce, and Miller's fetching 7-minute audition.
Hickenlooper supplies a commentary track over the film and the deleted scene. He describes the camaraderie of the shoot (most of the New York scenes were shot, persuasively, in Shreveport Louisiana, and many in the crew had just lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina), which lingers as well in his enthusiastic praises for the cast and the crew. He explains how the different film stock looks were achieved, identifies what parts of the sets and scenes are direct replications of reality, discusses at length the truths in Warhol and Sedgwick's relationship, goes over the impact each one had on the art world (after supplying a viable capsule history of art in the Twentieth Century), and dismisses forthrightly the spurious gossip that ensued over Miller's romantic sequences with actor Haydn Christensen (who is playing Bob Dylan, although nobody is allowed to say that, in the film or on the DVD supplement). Additionally, he makes note of the footage that has been added to the film for the DVD, which often fills in story details or provides more relaxed transitions from one situation to the next. He hails distributor Harvey Weinstein as a modern Irving Thalberg, but he also makes it clear that it was Weinstein's pressure to bring the film out what was effectively a year too early that left it both flawed and widely unloved, although now that the DVD is available, the general opinion could well swing to the positive, if not in the short term, then in the long term almost certainly.
August 14, 2007
DVD Roundup: This Week's DVD Releases
The Review VaultDouglas Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is published monthly.
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