The latest offering in the Andy Warhol-related documentary realm—a glimpse into the short life and fragile mind of the transsexual actress Candy Darling—remains a work in progress. Unfortunately time code, music and voice-over work won’t much improve an ultimately vague glimpse, despite the original films, photos, press clippings, letters and journal entries impressively assembled.
CineVegas 2009
- Directed by James Rasin
- Screens June 12 at 6:30 pm.
- Beautiful Darling
- More CineVegas
- Complete coverage of CineVegas 2009
- Film reviews
Darling is gritty and original and, like its subject, “has an aura.” But it maintains distance and even pokes fun at the core dreamers; there’s no real, deep conveyance of the pain and projected pleasure that fueled the lifelong casting of James Slattery in a starlet’s role. By mid-film, Slattery/Darling’s story has ceded the spotlight to the relationship between Darling and part-time servant/full-time friend Jeremiah Newton. Darling begins with, returns to and ends with Newton’s journey to bury his confidant’s remains, and it is his voice that dominates the flock of talking heads including journalists and such Warhol peripheries as George Abagnalo, Paul Morrissey, Holly Woodlawn, Gerard Malanga and, chillingly, Warhol shooter Valerie Solanas. Even as the perspective tilts unevenly, there’s no true danger of becoming weighed down. Darling drifts away with the fleeting fame that birthed it, ephemeral and eventually existing only in others’ memories.
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