Brigid Berlin Movies
The true story of one woman's brief and ultimately tragic flirtation with fame in the 1960s provides the basis for this biographical drama. In 1943, Edie Sedgwick (Sienna Miller) was born to a wealthy and socially prominent family, and she grew up with beauty and money, but also a history of mental illness; she was hospitalized with an eating disorder in her late teens, and by the time she was 21, two of her seven siblings had died before their time. In 1964, Edie moved to New York City, and quickly made a splash on the Manhattan social scene; she became friendly with the famous pop artist Andy Warhol (Guy Pearce), who was fascinated by her gamine loveliness and her quirky personality. Warhol wasted no time in casting her in one of his underground movies, and she quickly became a crucial part of his retinue of "superstars." Fashion icon Diana Vreeland (Illeana Douglas) was convinced Edie had the looks and charm to also become a successful model, and soon she was gracing the pages of Life, Vogue, and Glamour. But Edie's instability was hardly helped by her new fast-lane lifestyle, and when she met Billy Quinn (Hayden Christensen), a folk rock singer-songwriter often cited as "the voice of a generation," he persuaded her that Warhol and his associates were simply using her fame and beauty for their own gain, and she found herself torn between two powerful mentors, one of whom had become her lover as well. Factory Girl also co-stars Jimmy Fallon, Mena Suvari, and Tara Summers as regulars at the Warhol "Factory." The character of Musician was inspired in part by Bob Dylan, who was romantically involved with Edie Sedgwick for a brief time. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sienna Miller, Hayden Christensen, (more)
In 1963, Danny Williams dropped out of Harvard (over the strong objections of his family) and set out to make a career for himself in filmmaking. After editing several documentaries for Albert Maysles and David Maysles (including the award-winning Salesman), Williams met Andy Warhol, and soon became a member of the inner circle at Warhol's "Factory." Williams soon became both an advisor and a lover to the artist, and for a while lived with Warhol. When Warhol gave Williams a 16 mm movie camera, he began making films that displayed his sure and striking visual sense and sharp rhythms. Williams also was a key advisor to Warhol as they created "The Exploding Plastic Inevitable," the multimedia show which launched the career of the groundbreaking rock band the Velvet Underground. But Williams fell victim to the clashing egos that were a large part of Warhol's circle, and when he began receiving press attention that suggested the EPI was as much Williams' creation as Warhol's, Warhol broke off their relationship and a shattered Williams returned home to his family. After a few days, Williams went out for a drive and vanished, never to be seen again. Danny Williams' niece, Esther B. Robinson, offers an intimate look at the remarkable life and unexplained death of an important but little-known creative force in A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory, which features interviews with a number of Factory associates (including John Cale, Billy Name, Gerard Malanga, Paul Morrissey, and Brigid Berlin), as well as highlights from several of Williams' long-lost experimental films. A Walk Into the Sea received its North American premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigid Berlin, Paul Morrissey, (more)
- 2000
- Add Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story to QueueAdd Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story to top of Queue
Like Susanne Ofteringer's Nico-Icon (1995), Vincent Fremont's Pie in the Sky: The Brigid Berlin Story chronicles the life of one of the more colorful and unforgettable women to emerge from Andy Warhol's menagerie of artists, actors, lost souls, and hangers-on. The daughter of wealthy, powerful, and conservative parents who were fixtures of Manhattan high society, Brigid Berlin rebelled at a young age, enduring a whirlwind marriage and a spell at a fasting clinic in Mexico before making her way to Warhol's Factory, where she earned fame for her Polaroid photos and her habit of recording phone conversations. Although her parents weren't enthusiastic about their daughter's work in such Warhol films as The Chelsea Girls and Bike Boy, Berlin remained a fixture on the Warhol scene, gaining further notoriety for her one-woman shows and the paintings she created using her breasts as brushes. Among the people director Vincent Fremont interviews is filmmaker John Waters, who cast Berlin in a small role in his 1994 Serial Mom. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brigid Berlin, John Waters, (more)
