Andy Warhol superfans remember Candy Darling as a friend of the Pop artist, as an actress in his films, or as a name in Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side." But James Rasin's take on her biography is not just about Factory parties — it's a discomforting look at a transsexual actress's difficult life and isolating pursuit of fame. Raised as James L. Slattery by trans-phobic parents on Long Island, Candy escaped via worship of old movie stars like Kim Novak, whom she still obsessed over in Warhol's avant-garde underground. After her death from leukemia in 1974, when she was just 29, her best friend, Jeremiah Newton, interviewed anyone close to her. These interviews make up most of the film; there are also clips of her acting (in Warhol's Women in Revolt and in Tennessee Williams's Small Craft Warnings) and voiceover readings from her diary. Beautiful Darling is a scrapbook of her short, lonely life, a reflection on the cultural roots that led to her endless longing for escapism.
