Beautiful Darling Critic's Pick
A poignant walk on the wild side
By Mark Jenkins
Friday, May 20, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/beautiful-darling,1208310/critic-review.htmlOne of the oddest Top 20 hits of all time, Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" features a sauntering bass line and these words: "Candy came from out on the Island." Few listeners knew that Candy was a real person, a sometime laborer (like Reed) at Andy Warhol's Factory. Director James Rasin's "Beautiful Darling" fills in the story with grace and sensitivity.
Candy Darling did indeed come from out on Long Island — Massapequa Park, to be specific. But that's when she was James Slattery, a boy who desperately wanted to be Kim Novak. As this moving and funny documentary shows, she came closer to that goal than might have been expected.
