Berlin Film Festival Reviews

Posted: Tue., Feb. 17, 2009, 5:53pm PT

Berlin

Little Joe

(Documentary)

By JAY WEISSBERG

'Little Joe'

A Little Joe Prods. production. Produced by Vedra Mehagian Dallesandro, Joe Dallesandro, Christos Moisides, Nicole Haeusser. Executive producers, Vedra Mehagian Dallesandro, Joe Dallesandro.
Directed by Nicole Haeusser.

With: Joe Dallesandro.

Hagiography can't get more one-sided than "Little Joe," Nicole Haeusser's celebratory look at Joe Dallesandro produced by the man himself alongside his stepdaughter. Docu doesn't sully the "Joe by Joe" account with other interviews, remaining fixed on the Andy Warhol star's self-image as a misunderstood icon. Chronology is iffy and the subject's insights aren't exactly revelatory, but the docu -- hardly the last word -- is a fun way to pass 90 minutes. Dallesandro's cult status guarantees he'll be working a world tour out of fest and arthouse screenings.

Shuttled around a series of foster homes, Dallesandro turned juvenile delinquent and then, at 15, nude model for groundbreaking gay photo studio the Athletic Model Guild (he denies ever hustling). A chance meeting at 17 with Warhol made him a sex symbol of the counterculture, with Paul Morrissey filling the role of father figure while Warhol remained a distant, sphinx-like eminence grise. Dallesandro discusses his feelings of being used and his breakaway into Euro schlock, weaving in drugs, lovers, wives and kids with a cavalier concern for connecting details. The abundant footage is the main reason to watch; early animated sequence is cute.

Camera (color/B&W;, DV, 16mm, Super8mm-to-HD/DigiBeta), Christos Moisides; editors, Karen Smalley, Haeusser; music, John Frusciante, Gabriel Rowland; production designer, Elizabeth Cummings; art director, Rosie Sanders; animation, Todd Fjelsted, Adam Bolt. Reviewed at Berlin Film Festival (Panorama), Feb. 12, 2009. Running time: 87 MIN.

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