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Visitors Review

Laura Emerick 2012-05-24 12:53:47

Despite strong performances by Sienna Miller as the quintessential '60s It Girl and Guy Pearce as FrankenArtist Andy, the film ultimately doesn't have much to say about the people it purports to depict or the tumultuous times in which they lived.

2012-05-23 19:09:49

Thursday's child is Sunday's clown

Edie Sedgwick was a Paris Hilton-type figure of the 1960s; a trust fund babe with an ability to attract the paparazzi by associating with just the right people in just the right places. She arrived in New York City in the mid 60s and was drawn to the downtown art scene, where she was spotted by Andy Warhol, who became platonically smitten with her wide-eyed, waif-like beauty and vowed to make her a "superstar". Warhol featured her in a number of his experimental films, and she became the iconic symbol of the "Factory", a warehouse space where Warhol worked on his multi-media projects and played host to a revolving door co-op of avant-garde artists, musicians, actors and hangers-on. Sedgwick fell from grace with Warhol and tragically died of a drug overdose at the age of 28.This is a pretty rich vein from which to mine a juicy biopic. The director is no stranger to this territory; his outstanding 2003 documentary about L.A. DJ/rock impresario Rodney Bingenheimer, "The Mayor of the Sunset Strip" basically deals with the same theme. So, is George Hickenlooper up to the task? Well,yes and no.Hickenlooper's affection for the subject at hand is evidenced in his canny visual replication of the 1960s underground art scene; he alternates grainy, b&w film footage with highly saturated 16mm color stock and utilizes a lot of hand-held cinema verite style shots, cleverly aping the look of Warhol's own experimental films. The fashion, the music, and the overall vibe of the era is well-captured here.So the film has a great look, but what about the narrative? Aye,there's the rub. The director's pastiche approach plays like the Cliff's Notes version of Warhol and Sedgwick's partnership. A lot of things are left unexplained; peripheral characters come and go without much exposition (it wasn't until the credits rolled that I learned tidbits like "Oh. THAT character was supposed to be Moe Tucker from the Velvet Underground. Coulda fooled me..."). Ironically, the 30 minute extra on the DVD,featuring recollections from friends and family. serves up much more insight into what made Sedgwick tick than the full length feature does.One cannot fault the actors. Sienna Miller does an admirable job portraying the arc of Edie's transition from innocent pixie to haggard junkie. Guy Pearce completely disappears into a spooky evocation of Warhol. It's not as easy as one might think to inhabit Warhol's deadpan persona; several actors have tried(David Bowie, Jared Harris and Crispin Glover) but generally end up doing little more than donning a white wig, affecting a blank stare and tossing out the rote catch phrases ("Umm, yeah. That's great." "Yeah, hi."). Even the usually wooden Hayden Christensen registers a pulse and gets with the program, doing a passable impression of Bob Dylan. Oh, I'm sorry-did I say `Bob Dylan'? I meant to say, `Billy Quinn' (as in "The Mighty Quinn"-get it?), referred to in the film only as a "folk singer" "Factory Girl" is perhaps not quite as dismal as many have led you to believe, but it is still not as good as one might have hoped (I guess we can call this a `mixed review', no?) Worth a peek on a slow night.

workingclasshero4 2012-05-16 08:44:01

Absolutely putrid.......

Being both a fan of Warhol-era New York and Guy Pearce, "Factory Girl"was a movie I planned on seeing when I first caught wind of it. Hearingthere was a Bob Dylan character only made me more eager, not to mentionthe fact that I've come to think Sienna Miller is quite hot. This filmcouldn't have been more disappointing. Guy Pearce was good, as usual,as Warhol. Sienna Miller didn't bother me as Edie, she was good in somescenes and in some scenes seemed over her head. Other than that,nothing in this movie is worth your time. The direction is cliché andgimmicky. It's like a sixteen year old watched Oliver Stone's "Doors"movie and set out to make a "trippy rock-n-roll film, man." HaydenChristenson was astoundingly bad as the "Dylan" character, Billy Quinn.There were actually belly laughs in the theater on lines that wereobviously not meant to be funny. If you're a Pearce fan, it's worthtaking a look at on DVD because his performance holds up. Otherwise,Sienna Miller's naked body is the only thing that makes this movieworth existing. Save your money, save your time, save your brain.

Liz Braun 2012-05-15 16:01:01

According to anyone you care to ask, Factory Girl has been cut and recut a couple of times and may not even be the movie that filmmaker George Hickenlooper intended to make. This sounds reasonable, as nobody sets out to make a movie this banal.

Carrie Rickey 2012-05-14 11:28:27

Cautionary tale? Fashion show? Love story? Excuse for groovy soundtrack? George Hickenlooper's Factory Girl is a little of each, but not enough of any to make a satisfying film story.

John Thomason 2012-05-14 00:33:23

The vibrant 1960s New York art scene has never seemed as boring and programmatic as in George Hickenlooper's Factory Girl, a pointless excuse for the director to recreate hep locations and counterculture icons.

Anthony 2012-05-05 04:10:07

Fabulous, Edie Sedgwick would love it.

I just saw the movie today and I love it. It's fabulous!If Miss Edie Sedgwick is still alive, she'd love it!I can see signs everywhere Edie's fate is to meet Andy to turn into the "it" girl in the factory. It's very high-ride for Edie to become a star and indeed a tragic superstar she had became. Sienna's performance is phenomenon as our darling Edie!! She's incredibly stunning, She should deserve a oscar award! and of course Hayden Christensen's Billy Quinn (Bob Dylan) is wonderful, and Guy Pierce's Andy Warhol is fabulous as well as the cast in the movie! I would recommend Edie Sedgwick fans to watch this one because it's the beautiful and tragically work ever! You shall not miss this one. Don't listen to the bad (apparentally stupid) reviews and dont judge this one before you see it, go see it and see how you like it.

Wade Major 2012-05-04 11:13:05

Miller is undeniably engaging. That's probably not enough to save the movie from obscurity, but it should, at the very least, guarantee bigger and better things for its star.

James Alex Neve 2012-05-04 11:43:57

Enjoyable and well acted, but not very informative

Factory Girl is the story of Edie Sedgwick, a small-town 60s girl whobreaks away from her family in order to make it big in New York. Whilstthere, she meets an aspiring young artist named Andy Warhol (playedfantastically by Guy Pearce), who promises to make her into a star. Hedoes, but only at the cost of her losing her touch on reality, anddescending into a dark world of drug-fuelled haziness and lost dreams.The film gives us a taste of Edie Sedgwick that shows the glamour ofher original reign as queen of Warhol, whilst balancing that with theseedy tragic nature of her demise. Guy Pearce does a fantastic job ofrecreating the creepy enigmatic man himself, but the film will only beinformative to those who are unfamiliar with Warhol's, or Sedgwicks'slives. Much in the vein as Michael Mann's Ali it is a film thatrecreates familiar, iconic moments without truly delving deeper intothe minds and hearts of our protagonists. The airheaddedness of Warholremains a curious enigma.

2012-05-04 03:14:05

Being Famous... is almost like being stupid

Amazing what happens when you gotta money to spent and "friends" thathang out in you while you do have something green to hand over.... Thisfilm is sadly mix of rich little girl with drugs... I'm very sorry thatshe died. It seems that the movie is trying to blame someone for herdeath... but she knew all along that she is the only to blame. SiennaMiller is sometimes good... although the hardest scenes should havesomeone with more expression. Hayden has ground-up... its stylish.. Iwonder if the director only put her point of view... i think that couldhave Warhol point of view.. and related persons, so it wouldn't be sodestructive for Warhol image. I agree with Bob Dylan going to court tostop this massacre of blames... Eddie was a big girl, she didn't needanyone... she was a star... but she didn't know that.... too bad shedrug herself. In the end.. its all about destruction of a life bydrugs.

Elizabeth Weitzman 2012-05-03 17:28:22

With Factory Girl, Hickenlooper has taken an icon and made her ordinary.

Chris Hewitt (St. Paul) 2012-05-03 07:06:01

Two extraordinary performances can't prevent Factory Girl from being an ordinary movie.

Lisac 2012-04-29 01:19:18

Hard hitting and suprising performances

As a fan of the Hayden! I felt compelled to watch this movie (mainly for the sex scene and all the gossip surrounding it) What I found was an amazing portrayal of an icon. I am not a fan of Sienna Miller previously her career has been carved from accosiations to her leading men! However her performance in this film was amazing. Towards the end you felt the desprate situation she was in. Guy Pearce was simply stunning in his role as Andy Warhol. He captured a legend in his time! And Hayden (in my book he can do no wring...apart from the dodgy dialogue in SW, but lets blame Lucas for that verbal diorroeah) His breif screen time was fantastic, he was brooding, angry, and above all earth shatteringly sexy!! The sex scene was tastefully done bit sexy none the less!!All in all a ruddy good film!! Nos Dda from Wales!!xx

2012-04-28 15:06:30

Uncut unrated?

Not a bad movie. I wish I would have had been able to find a rated and cut version though.

James Christopher 2012-04-26 04:12:32

Miller is a genuine surprise as the damaged star. But the film leaves her very much as it finds her: a clueless naive.

David Edelstein 2012-04-25 15:47:52

The Warhol cosmos is too weird and complicated to lend itself to a conventional Hollywood biopic, and this one is conventional down to Warhol's first glimpse of his future 'superstar' bouncing up and down vivaciously in tacky slow motion.

MLDinTN 2012-04-25 15:04:03

Just another tale of a rich celebrity's downfall

This movie was about like watching one of VH1s Behind the Music exceptcall this behind the Artist. It's another tale of a rich, famousbeautiful girl whose life falls apart mainly because of drugs and herdysfunctional family. Edie Sedgwick comes from a very rich family andis living in New York. She gets involved with Andy Warhol and being inhis movies and his scene. They go out clubbing and she gets startedinto heavy drug use. She spends money like crazy and eventually hertrust fund starts to run dry. She thinks others should feel sorry forher because she's been in a psych hospital and one of her brotherskilled himself there. Another brother died in an accident. Warholeventually gets tired of her and she's basically a mess, begging formoney.The acting was good in this, especially Guy Pearce. I don't know muchabout Warhol since I don't give a hoot about art, but from what I'veread, he seemed to have a dead on personation. And Sienna Miller playedabout the only role she's believable in, a messed up socialite.FINAL VERDICT: If you don't know much about Warhol, I say skip this.

kevin_mulvey 2012-04-25 06:55:07

An Enthusiastic and Very Artful Approach to the Warhol-era

I thoroughly enjoyed this film, without a doubt. I generally pay verymuch attention to reviews, I depend on them to know whether a film willprobably be good but decided on a whim to throw caution to the wind andsee this movie. I had read many reviews, some said it was quite goodothers said it was quite bad, I would definitely disagree with thelatter.This film is a very artful and beautiful approach to the tragic end toone of America's greatest icons. The filming is beautiful and thescript is funny, intelligent, and very witty. I enjoyed the plot andwould like to establish that any readers of this post should disregardany reviews saying the movie did not go in depthly into the emotionaltragedy that was Edie Sedgwick- that is in absolutely NO WAY true. Itgoes very deep, it's almost hard to watch but you can't pull your eyesfrom the screen.My only qualm with the film was it's awfully annoying switch to fake"interviews" with Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) after leaving thefactory. They were truly irritating and broke the whole feeling of thefilm.Otherwise the film was pretty good overall. The acting by SiennaMiller, Guy Pearce, and Mena Suvari was incredible. I was taken abackby Sienna Miller's performance, I was very skeptical prior to seeingthe film. Guy Pearce was truly the embodiment of Andy Warhol- he was socold, so interesting, and so amazing. His ability to stay stone-facedand unmoving when Sedgwick broke down in a restaurant washeartbreaking.I would say, see the movie, you will be pleasantly surprised. I wouldwarn about frequent nudity though, I didn't expect so much- I didn'tcare but I know that some will.

Claudia Puig 2012-04-19 15:34:57

If not for Sienna Miller's engaging portrayal of Edie Sedgwick, Factory Girl would have little to offer.

Stella Papamichael 2012-04-19 01:32:57

In all it's an unconvincing portrait, and as the Dylan clone says, "Empty, like one of those cans of soup..."