Wednesday, April 20,2011
The Candor of Candy
With Director James Rasin's new documentary, Beautiful Darling, an icon breaks free from Factory walls
By Nick Curley
http://www.nypress.com/article-22342-the-candor-of-candy.htmlFamished filmgoers, take note: Director James Rasin hopes his new documentary Beautiful Darling— opening April 22 at the IFC Center—is "an exciting dinner conversation." Darling is the latest in a string of docs about a top cog of the Factory, Andy Warhol's departed avant-garde headquarters at 33 Union Square West. This time it's Candy Darling, Warhol's transgendered starlet—born Jimmy Slattery of Massapequa, Long Island—taking center stage. Yet those who think Andy's gang is well-worn territory will credit Rasin and collaborator Jeremiah Newton for making this coterie fresh again. Memorable interviews emerge from the likes of John Waters, Paul Morrissey and Fran Leibowitz, who here amusingly if controversially suggests that men becoming women may want to "keep their winning hand." Opening Friday at the IFC Center, Darling enhances Candy's mystique rather than exploiting it; she's a curiously gorgeous one-woman Rashomon.
"My view of Candy is sublimated by letting those who knew her speak, then letting the audience decide," says Rasin.
