American Masters (TV Series) Andy Warhol: A Documentary (2006) User Reviews

A Great Addition to Warhol Documentaries

[Mattscape21 · 8/10 · 28 September 2006]

I've seen most of the documentaries out there which follow Warhol's life and work and attempt to account for his influence. I've also read a number of books which attempt the same, as well as those written by Warhol himself or by proxy. I was quite honestly surprised then that this documentary presented a great deal of his early work that was relatively unfamiliar or little seen. Because of this minute detail in the early years, his later work was given short-shrift. The 80's were breezed through. (Perhaps there are plans to flesh out the later years in the future).

The talking heads are wonderfully pretentious on occasion and fairly incisive on other occasions. Most humorously, one comment from some expert is often immediately contradicted by another expert; The scenes are juxtaposed to highlight this paradox of the Warhol mystique -- that it is everything and its opposite depending on who you ask. And that is usually what is great about the commentary on Warhol: his work is so immediate that the academic folk make a myth out of the man as much as or more than they do the work. Not that Warhol didn't nurture that myth.

The only striking problem with the film was the over-dramatization of Warhol's own words, many taken from his book 'The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: From A to B and Back Again'. I noticed the same lachrymose readings in Burns's recent documentary on Eugene O'Neill. This is much more sporadic in the Warhol film, but I found the O'Neill doc hard to watch because of all the (over)ACTING! by those who read from his plays.

P.S. -- Cheers to Robert Sean Leonard in both the mentioned documentaries. He was the most restrained and evocative in his readings.

Too much for the average viewer...this is for your PhD in Warhol-ology

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 18 February 2012]

If you are looking for a casual introduction to the life of Andy Warhol or if you even want an intermediate look, then I suggest you find another documentary. That's because this one clocks in at a whopping four hours in length!! And, frankly, it seemed like they only had material enough for two or three hours. So, instead of telling his life story, often the film consists of folks who knew him or collected his art saying what a genius he was. A few of these folks seemed a bit overzealous--such as the guy who tried to draw a simile between Warhol and Jesus!! This gushing love and analyses seems VERY repetitive and even self-serving after a while--less would have worked better. Plus, the film really does NOT go in great depth about Warhol's life (despite the length of the show). Some of this is because Warhol LIKED to be seen as superficial and some of it is because instead of talking about HIM, it talks a lot about his work.

It's also problematic because some parts of the film seem incomplete or take HUGE chunks of the film when they shouldn't have. Almost the entire third hour is about his films--art-house films which practically no one ever is exposed to--in great contrast to his art. Oddly, however, his commercial films aren't even mentioned (such as his versions of Dracula and Frankenstein)! I just didn't understand this. Overall, a film that I think should be edited into two or perhaps three hours. Unless you are a HUGE Warhol junkie, there is just too much to keep your interest.

Ill-conceived

[davet1081-964-976110 · 4/10 · 7 April 2016]

A deeply flawed film. As others have remarked, too heavy on Warhol's sexuality and too much gushing critical praise bordering on worship. Just not enough interesting material for 4 hours of documentary.

Now, here's the most annoying aspect of this documentary: Ric Burnes' ghastly use of his brother's technique - the'Ken Burnes Effect'(KBE). For anyone unfamiliar, this means the relentless zooming and panning across old photos, and in this case, artworks. I presume this gives the film makers added material (and movement) as they can zoom in and focus on different parts of a single image getting double or triple duty from limited resources. Completely unnecessary for an artist as prolific as Warhol - in fact, there were very few works shown full-frame in their entirety.

The use of KBE in this documentary is just plain aggravating. Imagine roaming through an art gallery looking at everything as if through a keyhole! Works of art are obviously meant to be seen whole - not in bits and pieces. Here, nearly all of Warhol's painted/screened works are presented zoomed and panned - an abomination, and a wasted opportunity to present these works to the public as they should be viewed. What a shame.