Andy Warhol's "Chelsea Girls"

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I had the pleasure of seeing it projected onto two screens (as it should be), and I guiltily enjoyed it. I want to post more, but I'm at work. I'd like to gauge the ILF collective opinion on this movie.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Tuesday, 29 April 2003 10:03 (twenty years ago) link

I love it, and it's critically recognozed as being good, so why would you feel guilty liking it? It's far and away his best movie. I saw a guy at my local swap meet selling a homemade copy once, I kind of wish I had bought it.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 30 April 2003 23:54 (twenty years ago) link

Well there is the voyeuristic aspect, which isn't completely mitigated by its having been staged (there is still something essentially voyeuristic about all those Warhol films). I've always found Warhol's movies and overall M.O. risible. The extreme minimalism (and yes, Fred Camper, we know they're less minimal than is often made out) and extreme lengths of many of his movies are often cited as transgressive, etc. but they seem rather too impoverished as cinema for me. I'd rather read about than watch them. Chelsea Girls is kind of an exception. I like that the soundtrack is left to chance (a.k.a. the projectionist) and it does render Time Code redundant doesn't it?

Taking sides: Chelsea Girls (the movie) vs. ~~Chelsea Walls~~ Chelsea Girl (the LP)

I guess Chelsea Girls showcases the personalities and habits of its title subjects enough to be very interesting (often very sad I found). . . .

― amateurist (amateurist), Thursday, 1 May 2003 01:16 (twenty years ago) link

The only film I've ever walked out of (although after 98% of the rest of the audience had left). The combination of the accents, the appalling sound quality (the programme said this was deliberate), the clacking of the two ancient film projectors (apparently the Warhol estate doesn't allow it to be played in real theatres) made it completely indecipherable. Plus I never got to hear the theme song (I wanted to hear the verse about Nico that she doesn't sing on the album). The VU tribute band that played beforehand was pretty good though.

― hamish (hamish), Saturday, 3 May 2003 01:23 (twenty years ago) link

fourteen years pass...

Showing in NYC Saturday; i'm going at noon (3rd time for me)

http://metrograph.com/film/film/54/the-chelsea-girls

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 19:00 (six years ago) link

The more I learn about the Factory set, the more it feels like an East Coast counterpart to the Manson Family. But I still can't find Chelsea Girls that exploitative. I remember struggling to stay awake while it ran (except for the sequence where Ondine goes off on whoever that was who called him a phony).

― Polly of the Pre-Codes (j.lu), Wednesday, 14 March 2018 23:19 (six years ago) link

https://www.amazon.com/POPism-Warhol-Sixties-Andy/dp/0156031116

this book gives a really good first-hand account of the factory scene. people love to portray Warhol as this master svengali but it seems a lot more collaborative than all that (well, understanding that this book was written by him)

no idea what you mean by "counterpart to the Manson Family". one was an isolated drug murder cult in the desert the other an urban art scene with legit writers, artists, actors, drag queens, promoters, etc. creating venues, films, reords, etc.

― Hazy Maze Cave (Adam Bruneau), Thursday, 15 March 2018 13:26 (six years ago) link

if you meet it on its own terms, TCG is kind of a perfect film.

Roger Ebert hated it, but he was kind of a dope.

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 18 March 2018 06:26 (six years ago) link

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