Pie in the Sky: The Bridget Berlin Story (2001)
The kind of film that probably improves on a second viewing; I was all ready to give this film a C+ (for being alternately interesting and tedious) when an offhand comment by Berlin (a born-and-bred socialite who became an integral member of Andy Warhol's Factory and honestly was probably one of the few people in that group with any honest-to-God artistic talent) snapped the film's theme finally into focus. The comment in question was Berlin merely relating that people have started telling her that she's turning into her mother. But, as the film tells it, Berlin's mother was more or less her entire impetus for drifting into the counterculture and the Pop Art scene -- it was, as it was for many people, a form of rebellion against the conservative commie-hunting ideals of her parents. An admission like Berlin's, coming shortly after a short bit about the death of Warhol, signifies that the film is about more than one woman who got involved in an art movement; essentially, it's about the life and death of the movement. This late realization made the preceding footage seem wistful, maybe even a little sad. The film still seemed flawed (it's basically got two points to make -- about the influence of Berlin's family on her lifestyle and about her lifelong struggle with weight problems -- and it makes those points within ten minutes, leaving the rest of the film feeling fairly repetitive), but at least it now had a reason for being. And that made it worthwhile. This is a very qualified recommendation, for sure, but it's a recommendation nonetheless. (If you find Pop Art without exception to be pretentious, self-satisfied and unbearably tedious, however, you might want to stay home. This might not be your speed.)
Grade: B-
The kind of film that probably improves on a second viewing; I was all ready to give this film a C+ (for being alternately interesting and tedious) when an offhand comment by Berlin (a born-and-bred socialite who became an integral member of Andy Warhol's Factory and honestly was probably one of the few people in that group with any honest-to-God artistic talent) snapped the film's theme finally into focus. The comment in question was Berlin merely relating that people have started telling her that she's turning into her mother. But, as the film tells it, Berlin's mother was more or less her entire impetus for drifting into the counterculture and the Pop Art scene -- it was, as it was for many people, a form of rebellion against the conservative commie-hunting ideals of her parents. An admission like Berlin's, coming shortly after a short bit about the death of Warhol, signifies that the film is about more than one woman who got involved in an art movement; essentially, it's about the life and death of the movement. This late realization made the preceding footage seem wistful, maybe even a little sad. The film still seemed flawed (it's basically got two points to make -- about the influence of Berlin's family on her lifestyle and about her lifelong struggle with weight problems -- and it makes those points within ten minutes, leaving the rest of the film feeling fairly repetitive), but at least it now had a reason for being. And that made it worthwhile. This is a very qualified recommendation, for sure, but it's a recommendation nonetheless. (If you find Pop Art without exception to be pretentious, self-satisfied and unbearably tedious, however, you might want to stay home. This might not be your speed.)
Grade: B-
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