Review of Empire

Empire (1964)
3/10
Waiting for Kong
22 February 2021
There's a wonderful 10 minute stop motion film to be found in this 8 hour albatross of pretense covering the graveyard shift in midtown. Gathering enough material for a solid work of pixilation the makers Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas opt instead to let it all hang out.

The result of this "shock of the new" is defined in it's trying and laborious hours and given legitimacy by Warhol's signature on it despite it not being his idea (John Palmer). A voyeur con job travesty it succeeds glowingly in reaffirming Warhol's take on fame as one of his most memorable works. Most will never watch it but they'll remember the name of the guy who made the 8 hour film.

Without a gorilla scaling (stuck in traffic, taking the stairs?), the stoic beauty of the most famous skyscraper in the world wears thin fast leaving you to sit with Andy and Jonas ( his jittery camera style taking a breather) across the way in the Time-Life building in a catatonic stare for over seven hours. A film for insomniacs and hipster denizens of lower Manhattan artiste salons.
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