Art by Zee

By Mike Caccioppoli

Beautiful Darling: The Life and Times of Candy Darling, Andy Warhol Superstar (USA, 2010)

Directed by James Rasin

This documentary blind sided me as I didn’t expect it to be as moving as it is.  Chronicling the life of Candy Darling one of Andy Warhol’s minions, it is told mainly from the point of view of Candy’s longtime friend Jeremiah Newton who met Candy when he was a teenager and helped her with everything she needed. Candy we learn was born James Slattery in Brooklyn but even as a boy she knew it was her destiny to be a girl.

When Darling met Andy Warhol he promised to make her a superstar which is what Candy wanted. She imagined herself to be a leading lady of the silver screen and as we hear from various people including Annie Lebowitz and John Waters she had some real talent. The problem is that Warhol had few resources (he was no Louie B. Mayer, one person says) and a very short attention span when it came to his friends. Even so Candy probably went a lot further than expected, making films with Paul Morrissey and a play with Tennessee Williams.

While much of the information in Beautiful Darling was stuff I didn’t know, the real heart of the story lies with Jeremiah Newton as he attempts to bury Darling’s ashes (she died in 1974 from leukemia) in her home town on Long Island. Listening to Newton talk about her along with readings from Darling’s diary (voiced by Chloe Sevigny) we begin to understand the strife beneath all of that make-up and glamor. Darling was unhappy as a boy and only marginally happier as a girl. With all of the adoration she achieved as part of Warhol’s factory it didn’t satisfy what was truly desired by darling, to be accepted as a woman and loved by a man. For Newton while being accepted by the Factory members was a real kick, he also was never able to get close enough to Darling to truly understand her. As Beautiful Darling so aptly shows us, no amount of success or attention in life can heal the deep wounds of our childhood.

Winter’s Bone (USA, 2010)

Directed by Debra Granik

This harrowing film is about Ree (the amazing Jennifer Lawrence), a 17 year old girl who needs to find her father who jumped bail after being arrested for cooking up meth. If she doesn’t find him she and her family will lose their house which was put up for bail. As she tries to get information from relatives and family friends, she discovers that nobody wants to give her much information because they don’t want the father found. Her attempts to find out where he might be if he’s even alive plunge her deeper and deeper into a mystery that might get her hurt or even killed.

Taking place in the spare, barren Missouri Ozarks Winter’s Bone is a remarkable achievement. The performances are so realistic that at times it feels like we have simply walked in on the real lives of people trying to survive in a part of America that certainly isn’t for the weak and weary. The characters in Winter’s Bone are constantly trying to juggle between supporting their kin and survival and unfortunately survival often wins out. The violence in the film is shocking because it surfaces from such a gritty, natural setting that it feels all too real.

Lawrence is simply outstanding as the resourceful Ree, a girl that has to take care of her mentally incapacitated mother as well as her younger brother and sister. As she desperately tries to find her father we see the devastating toll the meth problem has taken on the lower class in the United States. The film uses Ree’s situation as a microcosm of the larger issue at hand. Left on her own to deal with the possible loss of everything near and dear to her, we can see how our country has left so many people out in the cold with nowhere to turn. Even family has its limitations.

3Some (Spain, 2009)

Directed by Salvador Garcia Ruiz

Three young art students decide to have a relationship in this thought provoking film from director Garcia Ruiz. Unlike many of the recent films I’ve seen where everybody is so unbelievably perfect looking, the people in 3Some are attractive but in a very real way, and the sex is realistically shot as well. This makes it all the more hot and steamy but it also challenges us to think about the problems that might arise from such a relationship. The three young adults seem to be handling their arrangement well enough but there is no getting around the obstacles they face. Just as with a more “conventional” relationship there are issue that arise but of course it’s even more complicated in this situation.

3Some looks at these issues in a very adult manner, and always with an eye on what it takes to make any relationship work. What does a person need from their partner or in this case partners? Be it sexual or career wise how does an emotional relationship feed into those needs and desires? Yes it’s all very complex but can true love between two, or three people overcome those issues? 3Some doesn’t answer these questions in a neat and clean manner but it does make us ponder them long after the film is over.

Hideaway (France, 2009)

Directed by Francois Ozon

Francois Ozon has always made deeply thoughtful and intriguing films and his most recent film Hideaway is no exception. This one is about a woman, who after losing her drug addicted boyfriend to an overdose begins a relationship of sorts with his gay brother. The woman is pregnant and decides to have the baby even though her boyfriend’s mother would rather see her have an abortion.

Spending time in her country home she is visited by her boyfriends brother and he begins to take care of her while also developing a deeper emotional connection. I won’t tell you where Ozon goes with their relationship but I can say it’s in some unexpected directions. The result is a film that challenges the usual “roles” we play in life while throwing in a few curves as well.