Average Rating: 6.4/10
Reviews Counted: 24
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 5
A portrait piece of Danny Williams, set amongst New Yorks Factory, home of Andy Warhol, provides insight and flavour of the time and the setting, with an unresolved mystery at its heart.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 1
A portrait piece of Danny Williams, set amongst New Yorks Factory, home of Andy Warhol, provides insight and flavour of the time and the setting, with an unresolved mystery at its heart.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 414
In 1963, Danny Williams dropped out of Harvard (over the strong objections of his family) and set out to make a career for himself in filmmaking. After editing several documentaries for Albert Maysles and David Maysles (including the award-winning Salesman), Williams met Andy Warhol, and soon became a member of the inner circle at Warhol's "Factory." Williams soon became both an advisor and a lover to the artist, and for a while lived with Warhol. When Warhol gave Williams a 16 mm movie camera,
Dec 14, 2007 Wide
Oct 28, 2008
Arthouse Films
All Critics (24) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (5)
An eerily moving tone poem as hard to pin down as its subject.
Combining contemporary interviews with Factory survivors and an astounding treasure trove of archival footage shot by Williams himself, the film is an enigmatic, atmospheric portrait of a guy apparently too nice for the notorious Warhol crowd.
This is one for the Warhol archives, not theaters.
We'll probably never know what became of Williams, but his short life and mysterious disappearance make for diverting viewing.
A Walk Into the Sea is Esther B. Robinson's documentary about Danny Williams, a former Harvard student who was a part of Andy Warhol's Factory scene.
While there is nothing here that will surprise Warhol aficionados, Robinson's interpolation of her uncle's ephemeral, slo-mo images lends a haunting authenticity to the talking heads recollections.
... if you can overlook [Robinson's] self-indulgent style, A Walk Into the Sea offers fascinating glimpses of the Warhol scene in the early 1960's.
Robinson is his niece and, though she affects a needlessly shaky, blurry style at times, she does her uncle's creative work justice.
Unsuprisingly, Robinson never really gets anywhere either, but her film at least gives a convincing flavour of the time.
Two other documentaries are released this week at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. A Walk into the Sea, by Esther Robinson, is the better of the two.
Not what it wishes to be - it's actually a cautionary tale on the abuse of amphetamines.
First-time director Esther Robinson proves that a dash of subjectivity in documentary isn't always a bad thing, showing a remarkable clarity of vision and thirst for knowledge in her superb 'A Walk Into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory'.
A Walk into the Sea traps us in an odd and compelling purgatory, one that's unable to answer the central question of what happened to Williams, yet still resolves with its own sense of satisfaction.
Much more carefully shot and lit than most of the Factory output, [Williams's films] do suggest a talent and intelligence that might have led somewhere interesting.
What's shown is undeniably elegant, which unfortunately only points up Robinson's technical ineptitude.
In her search for her uncle, [director Esther] Robinson discovered something quite unexpected: A startlingly talented filmmaker.
Even if we don't expect to learn much new from another analysis of the irrational, the glimpses of the illusions of the Warhol period, and the work of Danny Williams, are not enough to keep this pic afloat.
The result of the interviews is the most vivid, and perhaps most damning, portrait of Warhol seen on film.
A Walk In The Sea is at its best when [director] Robinson contrasts the haziness of the Warhol crowd with the specificity of Williams' family, who can recall every anecdote he ever told them, including every perceived slight.
| 25% | Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Par... |
| 81% | Kung Fu Panda 2 |
| 83% | Rise of the Planet of the Apes |
| 94% | Moneyball |
| 59% | Real Steel |
| 50% | The Rum Diary |
| 92% | Take Shelter |
| 31% | The Human Centipede II (Full Seq... |
| 72% | Tiny Furniture |
| 95% | Elite Squad: The Enemy Within |
Journey 2 Not Worth the Trip
What are his 10 best movies ever?
See the all-new action-packed trailer!
The Vow leads record-breaking...