Ciao! Manhattan

Two attempts at a movie spliced uneasily into one. A sort of mystery thriller shot in black-and-white and set in New York in the 1960s with Sedgwick, Holzer, Viva and other 'superstars' of the era, is combined with a colour study of the very deranged and desperate Edie in 197l, living out her last days (she died at 28 soon after the shooting) in her parents' house in California. The result is a mess. On the other hand, the ensuing confusion is in keeping with Edie's own disordered existence in her increasing drug dependency, and the contrasts (and continuities) between the '70s woman with the swollen silicon breasts and the elfin magnetic personality of the '60s are deeply disturbing.