Editorial Staff
The main problem of George Hickenlooper’s film is that it’s all a bit jagged. Is it a biopic? Love story? Expose on 70s fashions? Musical extravaganza? Weepie? It’s a little of all those things, but not enough of any of them. It needed more glue to hold it all together.
Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Hayden Christensen, Jimmy Fallon, Mena Suvari
The main appeal of Andy Warhol’s famous Campbell’s Soup painting is merely the fact that although it seems simple on the surface, we know there’s a lot more to it – especially the back story of how it came about.
The new film, “Factory Girl”, which examines Warhol’s relationship with Edie Sedgwick, is in many respects of the same mould – simple on the surface, with a lot more going on surreptitiously. Because it’s a film, and we’re supposed to see ‘what’s going on behind the scenes’ that’s a bit of a problem, but not to the degree of where it simply feels like you’re starring at a picture of a can of soup for 90 mins. Not at all.
Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) is a a beautiful, wealthy young party girl who drops out of Radcliffe in 1965 and heads to New York to become Holly Golightly. When she meets a hungry young artist named Andy Warhol (Guy Pearce), he promises to make her the star she always wanted to be. Promises, Promises…
Sienna Miller was born to play Edie Sedgwick – a young woman famous for merely being famous (she was the forerunner for famous-for-famous-sake folks like Paris Hilton). After all, the two share so many of the same traits – they’re both best known for not their fleeting film work but more so the fact that they’re always being photographed – be it on the arm of someone famous, or at some funky opening somewhere. And lets not forget, they both look great naked!
In all seriousness, the critics haven’t been kind to the film nor Miller’s performance as Sedgwick. Personally, I think she’s quite good in the role. Sure, she over acts a bit in the second half of the film (when her character’s reached rock bottom) but for the most part; she’s as credible as she is cute. Her performance may be a little uneven at times, but it’s hard to see whether Miller was simply off target or merely tapping into Sedgwick’s famous mood-swings.
Guy Pearce – tapping into his “Priscilla” persona – plays Warhol well enough. He doesn’t blow you away but he looks the part, sounds the part and seems to be trying his best. Not over convinced that he was the right choice for the role though. Still, Pearce is about to translate to the audience that Warhol was a self-pitting creep a lot of the time – and that’s rarely been seen before on film.
Better – believe it or not – is “Star Wars” prequel vet Hayden Christensen who, after his bravura performance in “Shattered Glass” a couple of years back, finally gets another chance to actually act. Here he’s immerse as the mulish and self-possessed folk singer (Billy Quinn – though the credits merely list the character as ‘folk singer’) who tries to rescue Sedgwick from ‘bad influence’ Warhol.
The main problem of George Hickenlooper’s film is that it’s all a bit jagged. Is it a biopic? Love story? Expose on 70s fashions? Musical extravaganza? Weepie? It’s a little of all those things, but not enough of any of them. It needed more glue to hold it all together.
Still, I’m in the minority who think “Factory Girl” is still a good film – with some minor flaws. It’s an intriguing portrait of a very intriguing creature – and Miller nails the part well enough to make you give a damn.
This ‘unrated’ version of the film – assume it’s the more rancid sex scenes that we didn’t see in theatres that warranted the new classification, or lack of – includes a commentary, a featurette, and a few other bits and pieces such as a video diary by Guy Pearce.
Rating : 
Reviewer : Clint Morris
