Shot Andy Warhol I Movie Review

Valerie Solanas is not a historical figure for whom one automatically feels a great deal of sympathy. Until I saw Lili Taylor's take on her, I always thought she was a precursor of would-be assassins like Squeaky Fromme or Sara Jane Moore. If you compare her story with the one told in Basquiat, you wonder why she would even want to solicit Warhol's approval, every card in his deck was so stacked against her. But she did want his approval, and her mental health steadily declined as a result. There is one rather sad sequence in which Solanas carefully chooses just the right outfit to meet a would-be publisher. She is so excited by what she hopes will be her big break and she tries so hard to create a dignified impression. Most of the time, though, she lugs around deep hostility toward everyone, while hoping that her work will win acceptance in spite of her behavior. As in every film that revolves around Andy Warhol (played here by Jared Harris), there are the usual eccentric roles that actors wanting to give their careers a jump start would do anything to play. Stephen Dorff is Candy Darling, a Warhol superstar who died at 26 in 1974. Jamie Harrold is Jackie Curtis, a Warhol superstar who died at 38 in 1985. Michael Imperioli is Ondine, a Warhol superstar who died at 51 in 1989. On the other hand, Reginald Rodgers, Miriam Cyr, and Tahnee Welch are living legends Paul Morrissey, Ultra Violet, and Viva. The filmmakers try hard to show that Solanas wanted to do more with her life than shoot Andy Warhol, but as she antagonizes every single one of her supporters, her manifesto shrinks in importance compared to the one act of violence that got her in the history books.

1996 (R) 100m/C Lili Taylor, Jared Harris, Stephen Dorff, Martha Plimpton, Donovan Leitch, Tahnee Welch, Michael Imperioli, Lothaire Bluteau, Anna Thompson, Peter Friedman, Jill Hennessey, Craig Chester, James Lyons, Reginald Rodgers, Jamie Harrold, Edoardo Ballerini, Lynn Cohen, Myriam Cyr, Isabel Gillies, Eric Mabius; D: Mary Harron; W: Mary Harron, Daniel Minahan; C: Ellen Kuras; M: John Cale. Nominations: Independent Spirit Awards ‘97: Best First Feature. VHS