Factory Girl

 Factory Girl 2006

• Director: George Hickenlooper
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, Hayden Christensen, Jimmy Fallon
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Sienna Miller – High-Rise, Stardust, Alfie
• Guy Pearce – Genius, The King’s Speech, The Road, A Slipping Down Life, Priscilla Queen of the Desert
• Hayden Christensen – Star Wars et al, Jumper, Virgin Suicides
• Jimmy Fallon – Almost Famous
• Why? I can’t remember if I liked it.
• Seen: Once before. Now 7 June 2022      

       Andy Warhol (Pearce). An icon to be sure, an important superstar in pop culture. The Factory, his temple. Edie Sedgwick (Miller) his main Factory Girl. For a while.

       Edie is a poor little rich girl (they even make a film with the name) with a history of mental hospitals and paternal abuse. Andy is a spacey professional media weirdo. They feed each other’s neurotic egos and take themselves and their ultra-coolness very seriously. And somehow convince everyone also to do so too.

       Yes, it’s all very ultra-cool but being an uncool nerd myself I find it irritating and pretentious. Even the super-cool unnamed Rock Star (read: Bob Dylan.) (Christensen).

       Maybe that’s the whole point. The film doesn’t shy away from the nasty and cruel and tragic. Of course, Edie Sedgwick is a tragic figure. I find that I care in only the most abstract distant way. I don’t like these people. I don’t like the film. It’s so depressing. Maybe that’s the point too. Maybe it’s a brilliant film. Some people think so. Many do not.

       I’m weeding out my DVD shelves. There’s no room. This one will go to the used DVD shop. I hope someone will like it more than I do.      

2 ½ * of 5