New in Theaters:
Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston
A dishwater-dull film about an electric subject, Whitney Sudler-Smith’s documentary about the rise and fall of designer Halston has everything it needs for success. There’s an iconoclastic, paradigm-shifting artist who’s also an aggressive businessman, dozens of fashion icons and hangers-on willing to peddle their stories, and a backdrop of cocaine-dusted and sex-scented Studio 54 decadence. The makings are all there for a glamorous documentary that could combine the wicked appeal of Billy Corben’s Pater Gatien biopic Limelight with the more serious fashion-nerd leanings of something like The September Issue. But instead of letting his story naturally unfold like one of Halston’s famous shirtwaist dresses, Sudler-Smith gums up the works by inserting his own stiff self front and center in one of the most ill-considered framing devices ever used in a documentary…
Ultrasuede is playing now in limited release. You can read my full review at filmcritic.com.
Chris Barsanti 