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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 2007)
44 JUStjOUt OCTOBER 19.2007 You CAN see YOU in the mirror again! LIPOATROPHY (SUNKEN CHEEKS)?' SCULPTRA injections can help you look as young and healthy as you feel. DR. MARLA ROSS, a board certified dermatologist, is your local sculptra expert. ' t . ¿¡i Jr” For consultation and treatment, call her at 503-245-2415 NORTHWfST HAIR SURGERY SPECIALISTS NORTHWEST 10215 SW Hall Blvd • Portland 503.244.5368 Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory Sam Wagstaff and Danny Williams are not exactly household names, but students of cutting- edge postwar art probably know Wagstaff and might recall (perhaps dimly) Williams as one of the myste rious satellites orbiting Andy Warhol. Two new doc umentaries attempt to fix these elusive characters on film. Both are well worth watching. Wagstaff is the subject of Black White + Gray, which also profiles his friend, protégé and lover Robert Mapplethorpe. Director James Crump tracks the handsome, rich Wagstaff from “debu tantes’ dream” to pioneering curator of modem art to erotic experimenter secretly indulging in some of the sleaziest activities in New York’s version of the sexual revolution. Featuring in-depth interviews with the third member of the Wagstaff-Mapplethorpe trio, punk goddess Patti Smith, Black White + Gray offers a fine balance in its biography, reminding us of Wagstaff’s importance in introducing important art movements like minimalism and happenings to the culture while also showing us a vulnerable human being. The brilliant Mapplethorpe emerges as both a cunning manipulator of his mentor and a guide for Wagstaff’s liberation. Both died of AIDS, Wagstaff in 1987 and Mapplethorpe in 1989, but the film wisely dwells on their lives, not their deaths. Equally intriguing is A Walk into the Sea. This film came about because Williams’ niece Esther Robinson was always curious about what happened to “Uncle Danny,” who in 1966 drove to Cape Ann, Mass., parked his car on a cliff and was never seen again. Williams was a gifted Harvard grad who hixiked up with Warhol, operated the famous light shows that made the Velvet Underground a cause célèbre and became Warhol’s lover. Unlike most of the damaged denizens (Edie Sedgwick) and cynical players (Paul Morrissey) who surrounded Warhol, Williams was known as a kind, open-hearted, non neurotic, genuinely talented man. Of course, these traits were taken as a challenge and perhaps an affront by Warhol’s core Factory folk, and in the brutal Darwinism of that small world, Williams became increasingly marginalized, eventually hooked on meth and expelled by his now indiffer ent lover. A Walk into the Sea is much more than a portrait of Williams, who left no diary, letters, suicide note or even 11 th-hour conversations to help us figure out why he killed himself, if indeed he did. It’s also a fascinating look at the cruelty and cultishness of the Warhol world, with then-and-now commenta tors such as Morrissey, Billy Name, Chuck Wein, Brigid Berlin and others showing what made that scene both special and sad. Included are substantial excerpts from Williams’ own, previously unknown experimental films, which hint at a potentially major talent whose light went out too soon. Runs through Oct. 21 at Whitsell Auditorium; for showtimes visit www.nwfilm.org. A —Gary Morris Blade Runner Where to begin? Ridley Scott’s 1982 film starts with an impeccable provenance: a great Philip K. Dick novel that delves deeply into what it means to be human. It’s also a love story and a dizzying film noir complete with femme fatales, a hard-boiled anti-hero and complex “replicant” villains who in some ways have the moral edge over their “good” human counterparts. Even during the slow parts— and the pacing can be a bit glacial—there’s endless, extraordinary eye candy provided by unforgettable images of a future Los Angeles marked by perpetual rain and darkness and teeming hordes of humanity. This meticulously restored, refurbished “final cut” clarifies some things and confuses others but gener ally shimmers onscreen. See it on the big screen for maximum effect. (It’s in limited release, so don’t miss the chance.) Opens Oct. 26 at Cinema 21. A —GM The Darjeeling Limited With all due respect to the disarming whimsy of The Royal Tenenhaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, this railroad romp is Wes Anderson’s most rewarding and heartfelt effort since Rushmore. The pacing is pokey qt times, and some of the eccentricity feels forced. But • Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson and Jason Schwartzman have terrific chemistry as a bedraggled trio of brothers who rehash their dysfunctional family history while traveling across India by train. The set designs are charm ing, and Anderson veterans Bill Murray and Anjelica Huston have amusing cameos. B + —Stephen Blair VA Equity Loans 100% Financing Reverse Mortgage Commercial Loans Investment Properties Mortqoqc Defender F inancial S ervices I nc . Elizabeth: The Golden Age Black White + Gray explores the relationship between legendary curator Sam Wagstaff (left) and famed photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Historical dramas can be tricky, but the massively enter taining Elizabeth: The Golden
