Customer Reviews

Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the best portrait of an artist I've ever seen. I was completely entralled by the film. Because Warhol was both tremendously inventive and horribly cruel, I alternately felt a sense of awe and disgust. Warhol's genius and callousness are both fleshed out. Despite the turbulent content of the film, I was simply exhilerated throughout.

Having watched this excellent film, I feel a greatly enriched appreciation for Warhol's art---a sense of what it said, how it worked, and how it became a cliche. (I was particularly ill-informed about Warhol's films, which were discussed in great detail.)

The Factory--where Warhol worked (but seldom played) and where transvestites, drifters, and creative spirits intermingled--is featured in healthy portions. This locale comes across as one of those rare places in history where the geist of a era is spatially concentrated. Here, in this one extraordinary place of production, Warhol and others fomented art and a vision of a post-Fordist world. This film is essential viewing (like the Weather Underground or Berkeley in the Sixties) for those who want to ingest and comprehend the paradigm shift of the "1960s."

Warhol's cruel indifference to the self-destruction of those around him is critically revealed. While some in the Factory drank and drugged themselves to death, Warhol passively watches, always remaining cool, detached, and voyeuristic.

The attempted homicide on Warhol, his commercialism, and his later years are all mentioned. I would fault the film for not showing Warhol speak on film more often, for not really considering his cooptation by capitalism, and for skipping over his influence in art and in popular society.

I must admit though, that the film is brilliantly executed, and well worth your time and nickel.

I just received this in the mail and finally got to watch it. It is a very engaging and in-depth presentation of his life from early childhood to the late 60s. In fact it's the most in-depth documentary in the respects of his early life, pre-pop success, that I've seen. There are lots of great images and archival footage that otherwise you may not have a chance to see, but...

This documentary seems to focus mostly on the silver factory years, which lasted only from the early 60s to 1968, yet takes up most of the 4 hours of this film. Granted, those were arguably some of the most influential and important years of his career, but I wish this film contained more on his later life. The last 2 decades of his career, the 70s and 80s, took up only the last 20 minutes (credits included) of the whole 4 hours, which is only a brief summary. This is the only reason I decked one star off my rating, as the 70s and 80s are my personal favorite times in his career. There's always The Andy Warhol Diaries for that area though, which I would also recommend.

So, overall, I would recommend this to anyone interested in Andy, and to those who are already fans. Even though it's lacking in it's coverage of his later career, it excels in every other aspect, and I'm glad I got to see it.

Highly recommended. For awhile I had been thinking this is one of Ken Burn's best. But it's by brother Ric. So one of Ric Burn's best. One of the best documentaries by anybody period. This is the definitive Andy Warhol documentary. I've seen others and they hardly compare. You needn't be a huge fan of pop-art (I'm not) to find this story fascinating. Intelligent explorations of what goes into the creation of creative people does make for such a rewarding experience. Family life, economic background, personal difficulties and experiences, cultural surroundings, those chance meetings and various contingencies, personal influences --these are all dealt with in sufficient detail during the four hours allotted to them. A comprehensive in-depth portrait of Andy Warhol is a portrait of (for better or worse...) us and American society of the last half century. This is what we learn. Warhol is perhaps more relevant than ever and that's also why this is an important documentary. Loads of incredible (sometimes rare) footage intelligently utilized, excellent narration, and music that had an effect of ushering me into a contemplative mood and drawing me further into the images come together to demonstrate that documentary films can be considered a work of art in their own rite. Well I'm gushing now, but I was impressed. However, the case is made that Warhol is the most important artist during the second half of the 20th Century. Now I simply don't buy that, but if not Warhol then who?

You will definitely get your money's worth on this DVD if you purchase it here on Amazon. It goes for 4 hours. In the duration of watching, I broke down and cried a couple of times... This is a great film to add to a collection if you love Andy or are interested in artists.

I think PBS did a great job of covering some issues which motivated Andy, specifically his initial rejections from colleagues and potential lovers were hurtful to comprehend. This collection doesn't go too much into Andy's relationship with his mother, unfortunately. The second part focuses on Andy's transformation from the advertising world onto the pop "scene" as a leader of his Silver Factory... Finally tying things up with the event of his being shot by a delusional groupie, who felt he had too much control over her life. That also is very emotional to sit through. Well it seems Valerie Solanas gave Andy a good cooling-off? I did not perceive him to be calloused, or someone who used people; but apparently he had that reputation. One thing for certain: he became a nicer person.

I am not giving this documentary 5 stars because of the horrid narration. The narrator was obviously pressed to cover too much information in too short of time. As a result, her voice sounds hyper-vigilant, taking away from the spirit of this film. The director would have done better to use a someone with a softer tone, and more music back-up from the era.

I watch this dvd over and over again. One of the best documentaries I've ever seen. If you're a Warhol fan this is a must see. It's rich with information and vintage footage, with wonderful interviews with factory members and people associated with Warhol during the 50, 60 and 70s.

This is a fantastic and informative documentary on the life and work of Andy Warhol. This interpretation of his life makes the most sense to me. The footage, images, and interviews are fantastic, although there is this one interviewee who occasionally tries to read into Warhol's work too much, but overall this is a fantastic guide to understanding why Warhol is the cultural phenomenon that he is.

An interesting look at the life and the artistry of Andy Warhol and the important impact he had on the world, not just the art world.

Quite disappointed with this documentary. Considering that I'm very familiar with Warhol and his life, I was surprised at how boring the makers of this documentary made his life seem. Worst aspect of the documentary was the droning voice of the female narrator, quite literally lulled me to sleep. What happened to the fun, flamboyance, the entertainment in Warhol's life!!!!!!!

You know what I did with this? I carefully opened the plastic, took out the DVD, scanned the DVD, made a sticker, and then put it on a copy of ISHTAR, and gave it to my brother for Christmas. HE HAD NO IDEA!!!!

The thing of it is, it was sort of an inside joke where we were giving eachother Ishtar for about 5 years. I'm pretty sure there's a copy hidden somewhere in my guestroom that he's going to spring on me at some point.

And the funny part is that Ishtar, or at least the first hour of it, is pretty awesome. Wardrobe of Love. I mean, OK.

The DVD that originally came in this case was round and flat, and featured some freak's picture on it who looked like he got electrocuted. If you like dudes like that who make stuff that looks like stuff that already exists and want to know if they had bad skin and were mamma's boys, you should get this movie. (Hint: They did, and they were).