Lions Love

Imagine Andy Warhol if he were slightly less boring and considerably more humanistic and you have some idea of the great limits and small virtues of this LA time capsule from the spring and summer of '68. Give it a C plus.

I love Agnes Varda. I love Viva. I love California. I love the 60s. And still I hated this movie. It is proof that Varda does not do well without a plot structure (few directors do). There is no plot to this film and its boring, boring, boring. It's a weekend in the life of Viva and the creators of Hair the weekend of RFK's assasination. A slice of real-life ala Warhol. (Agnes went so far as to steal Viva away, a real Warhol superstar. Only 3 saving graces: funny Shirley Clarke; some beautiful imagery with Viva and a clock and one scene w/ Varda herself. Otherwise, skip it even if you are a Varda or Viva fan. Re-watch Cleo or Vagabond instead.

Documentary maker Shirley Clarke comes to Hollywood... finding nothing there .... to negotiate with a big studio about making a movie in which movie stars play themselves. Instead, she hangs out with three fringe actors while her agent negotiates with studio brass. All this is against the background of the Robert Kennedy assassination and the shooting of Andy Warhol.

It's an Agnes Varda movie, which means there is a sarcastic edge to the affair. The actors, part of Andy Warhol's coterie, perform their ad lib roles in a very artificial manner; Miss Clarke refuses to do a particular scene, so Miss Varda comes from behind the camera to do it herself. Only the agent and studio executive give realistic performances. For the rest of it, it seems, it's a movie about movie people trying to make a movie. It's endlessly recursive, and the failure of the project means that's this winds up being a movie about not making a movie. In the end, there is no movie, no studio making a movie, no Hollywood (beyond Larry Edmond's book shop), no Robert Kennedy, and very nearly no Andy Warhol or Shirley Clarke. It's a movie about nothing, except the lights and colors of Hollywood. It's an elaborately detailed travelogue, stretched out two hours, with beautiful people who are so shallow they might exist only on a flat movie screen.

This film captures the spirit i was possessed by whilst a teenager, i love it achingly. Not for everyone. For one thing, don't expect a plot driven film, that's just silly to expect here, expect a decadent period piece, with eye popping visuals and hippie excess. For me it's one of the best things i'll ever see!

Agnes Varda directed this fascinating cinema verte like fictional film in 1969. The film traces Gerome Ragnai and James Rado (the composers of HAIR) and Andy Warhol actress Viva as they try to break into the Hollywood lifestyle. American feminist icon filmmaker Shirley Clarke is featured in an extended role, also playing a fictionalized version of herself. Clarke is attempting to get studio financing for a film project that seems to be consciously satirizing the struggles Varda must have had in getting this film made. This film is funny, beautifully shot and imaginatively edited. It is a must see for fans of Varda and the French New Wave.