Lions Love (... and Lies)

I checked this movie out as it sounded interesting as it starred Warhol discovery Viva and the writers of the musical "Hair" and was filmed by Agnes Varda who made "Cleo from 5 to 7". I was looking forward to seeing this but was so disappointed because it is a terrible and amateurish film with unappealing characters.

Rado and Ragni should never have stepped in front of a camera. (Instead they should have been busy writing a new hit musical.) It is now clear to me why Viva never became a movie star and why this movie now is forgotten and unseen. Shirley Clark is the only interesting person in it and I wonder what this movie would have been without the Kennedy assassination.

It's ironic that the film studio people in the film talk about having the final cut of a film project and how the Clarke's agent wants her to retain creative control over her film. This film HAD been better with a lot of editing, cutting out all of Viva, Rado and Ragni (but the there wouldn't have been anything left!).

What could have been a cult documentary of the scene in 1969 California is just an incredibly dull because of Varda's choice of lead characters. Just because these people had been involved in some cool 60's projects did not mean that they were worthy of being subjects of a documentary. The only funny part is when they discuss pregnancy and how it would be good to speed up the process.

This film captures the spirit i was possessed by whilst a teenager, i love it achingly. Not for everyone. For one thing, don't expect a plot driven film, that's just silly to expect here, expect a decadent period piece, with eye popping visuals and hippie excess. For me it's one of the best things i'll ever see!

Agnes Varda smiled at me! The director was present at the showing of this film (with her 1982 short Ulysse shown beforehand), and she described the historical background of Lions Love (about two feet from my face!). This was her only film made in America, and it's very much influenced by the cinematic court of Andy Warhol. Lions Love stars Warhol model Viva and two men, James Rado and Gerome Ragni (the creators of the musical Hair) as a spiritually linked threesome living in L.A. Filmmaker Shirley Clarke crashes at their apartment, having come to L.A. to meet with producers. To sum the film up, it's late '60s garbage. Sorry to say it, but it is. Mostly improvised, with a lot of goofy, goofy scenes. Warhol and his cronies are almost completely forgotten, at least the cinematic section of it. I would guess that this was just one of a hundred films made in a similar style during this period. My only point of reference is the 1972 film Ciao! Manhattan, which depicts the toppling of Warhol's most famous protege, Edie Sedgwick. That film, I think, is a masterpiece, despite of or because of its cinema verite insanity. Lions Love is much less interesting, and it never reaches an emotional level like Ciao! Manhattan does. Still, Lions Love isn't worthless. It may be garbage, but it is amusing garbage. This is probably due to my youthful interest surrounding the late 1960s, and most who lived through the era would probably find the film insufferable. And it does find a structural anchor, if not an emotional one, in the assassination of Robert Kennedy, as well as the attempted murder of Andy Warhol. If the film depicts the events factually (and, from what Madame Varda seemed to imply, these things happened as they were making the film), those two events happened on the same day. 6/10.

Imagine Andy Warhol if he were slightly less boring and considerably more humanistic and you have some idea of the great limits and small virtues of this LA time capsule from the spring and summer of '68. Give it a C plus.

The movie is totally a waste of precious time unless you are a great fan of any of the actors involved or like to see news clips of the 60's in California. The best part is the first part of the movie showing a scene out of a play "the Beard" with Billie Dixon and Richard Bright, but that is just about all you are going to see of Richard Bright. There seems to be no structure, no set script. I think anybody could have done a better job with other wanna be actors and a camcorder. I cant believe they wasted so much time on a scene where they were too lazy to get out of bed to order or make coffee. At the end you will be slapping yourself in the face either to wake yourself up or to scold yourself for the fact that you watched the whole thing from beginning to end.