Wednesday 19 Jun
 
 

Ninja III: The Domination

Don't ask why Ninja III: The Domination begins with a ninja assault on a municipal golf course. Just be grateful it does. You also may wonder why its sex scene employs a can of V8: Don't question it. Just lie back and enjoy it.
06/14/2013 | Comments 0

Lifeforce

Tobe Hooper got a raw deal. The director of horror hits The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist didn't deserve to be sent to movie jail for 1985's Lifeforce. It's a well-crafted, well-intentioned work that was mismarketed and misunderstood, losing a bundle of money and soon sending Hooper into the lands of episodic television and direct-to-video features.
06/14/2013 | Comments 0

Dead Souls

With Dead Souls, we can prove something about the Chiller cable network's original features that Remains could not: Source material is not to blame for their pervasive generic nature — it's the economy, stupid.
06/11/2013 | Comments 0

The Philadelphia Experiment

There's a theory about remakes that perhaps Hollywood should stop remaking good movies and instead remake the bad ones, so that they may be improved. The problem with that theory is one runs the risk of the remake being bad, too. Case in point: The Philadelphia Experiment.
06/12/2013 | Comments 0

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

A few surprising things about Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters:
• It comes from MTV Films,
• is produced by Will Ferrell,
• and is as fun as its title is dumb.
06/11/2013 | Comments 0
Home · Articles · Movies · Documentary · Beautiful Darling
Documentary

Beautiful Darling


This Candy sours

Rod Lott August 10th, 2011  

Candy Darling would’ve loved “Beautiful Darling,” the documentary of her brief 29 years alive, because, as one of the persons interviewed reveals, the thing that mattered most to her in life was being considered gorgeous enough to grace the silver screen.

That she was ... although she was born as James Slattery. More famous for being famous than for any discernible talent, she became a fixture of New York’s avant-garde scene of the late 1960s and early 1970s, thanks to her association with artist Andy Warhol.

He, of course, coined the famous “15 minutes of fame” expression, which fits her to a T — and that’s why the film isn’t worthy of recommendation: It greatly overstates the importance of its subject.

“Beautiful Darling” plays 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday only, at Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch.

Growing up with a Kim Novak obsession, Darling used “82 pounds of makeup” to transform the quiet boy into an outgoing woman in roles on stage and screen.

Some consider Darling brilliant, and maybe she is, but in the footage freshman director James Rasin shares, she appears to be more wannabe than genuine thespian, and a drama queen (potentially offensive pun not intended). John Waters sure digs her, but consider the source; the film states that even Warhol used her like Kleenex, more interested in exploiting “chicks with dicks” than employing any dramatic skills.

The most interesting section details Darling’s heartbreaking childhood, as struggling with one’s identity is a universal theme, whether or not that’s related to gender. Rasin and his interviewees, however, are more interested in placing her on a pedestal that all fail to justify.

 
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