Produced in 1967 and 1971; Released in 1972.
Ostensibly a documentary about Edy Sedgwick, the iconic face of Andy Warhol's Factory, CIAO! MANHATTAN is actually a scripted drama in which all the actors play themselves. Warhol's films are often characterized by an immediacy that creates a sense of voyeurism for the viewer. However, this film has become a legitimate profile of ephemeral starlet Edy Sedgwick, as well as an in-depth look at New York during the late 1960s.
Edie stars as Susan, at first a topless California hitchhiker and later a pill-popping Vogue sensation flitting about Andy Warhol's New York scene. Susan is a disenchanted young woman who has left New York City for her mother's home in California. Sleeping in the dilapidated swimming pool, she is trapped in a strange world, suffocated by her overly domestic, pie-baking mother. Her memories of New York are shown through flashbacks, where she was part of Warhol's infamous family of artists and eccentrics.
Shocking, entertaining, and moving, CIAO! MANHATTAN is a seminal piece of 1960s cinema that is in a genre all its own.
