Added: 4 years ago
From: malhouney
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  • First off, I watched this whole thing somewhat enjoyed it.

    However, I don't feel good about this. This is a sad story posing as a spoof. Can someone justify the use of dolls?

  • INCREDIBLE FILM. Moved me to tears.

  • I'm sorry but I couldn't take this movie seriously when they broke out barbie dolls.

  • Are the events depicted in this fictionalized or is it based on what actually happened/what people suspect happened?

  • This movie is FUCKED UP

  • @metronomic1 Just wondering - did you watch the WHOLE THING?

  • Was "Creepy A&M Guy" (doll) supposed to be Herb Alpert?

  • @Mantronixxx Sadly yes

  • Creepy A & M guy (Doll) LMFAO

  • I tried three times to post the link to Todd Haynes incredible debut: Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. It will not post. You can google Todd Haynes: Karen Carpenter and find the link. It's worth the effort.

  • spooky!

    

  • Definitely the best biopic I've ever seen (ironically using Barbie dolls as actors). Way better than the crappy made-for-TV-movie about Karen Carpenter, that's for sure.

  • i've totally driven by that house. kinda eerie.

  • such an interesting mise en scene. haynes's choice of using dolls comments on the content perfectly.

  • I love Todd Haynes! He does such a good job making unique films!

  • This is really good!

  • Thank you for that account, DeborahSueWho.

  • Thanks for this. I saw it in an english class in college and was afraid I'd never see it again. Most of the class cried - a movie casted with dolls made us, a class of working adults, cry. Incredible.

  • Thanks for this. I saw it in an english class in college and was afraid I'd never see it again.

  • Methinks a lot of people commenting on this miss the point...

  • Amazing! I am so inspired! Love it!

  • This is giving me the creeps 

  • How stupid, I thought it was a real movie.

  • What a fucking steaming pile of shit.

  • This is brilliant. I love Karen and I love Todd Haynes.

  • oh blimey that scream scared the heck out of me!!! first kcmo and now this I gotta put up with THIS?! Sorry but this seems more like a horror movie, than a docu-movie! I'm outta here:(!!!

  • Needs a remake, in the style of" " Team America"

  • the staring scared me like hell

  • i watched 5 minutes. not gonna continue, the use of dolls just kills it. seriously.

  • When the camera zooms into the faces of the dolls, I get really freaked out.

    Other than that, why did the creepy music start and a lady fell into a pile of women's bodies? I really didn't understand that part, along with the small explanation of that one freaky scene. Can someone explain, in an even simpler form, what just happened there? Thanks :)

  • OMG, around 5:30 while in the record co. office, are those freak'n peppermint Lifesavers on the wall, representing gold records? LOL. I am totally opposed to government censorship of any kind, but might make an exception for this movie. BTW, I thought this was "banned"? Isn't the poster "Break'n the Law, Break'n the Law!"? Breaking Copyright & Federal law/gag order I add? I'm tell'n. Yousa in deep doo-doo!

  • "wholesome is in" Especially love the A&M meeting.

  • i think using the dolls is STUPID,

  • This is Fucking AWESOME!!! I've been wanting to see it for YEARS; I can't believe it wasn't the very FIRST thing I tried to look up on the first day I got Internet service!!

  • This makes me cry....

  • Comment removed

  • so much for artistic license. i wanna sue too!!

  • @ThePolkadotbikini ... LOOSER

  • its art.

  • Todd Haynes = Genius.

  • got to much time on ur hands

  • I have heard about this years and years ago, and I finally decided to sit down and watch it. I loved it!

  • I like parts of this very much I but thought the actress who played Karen was a bit wooden and stiff, I realize she came off that way in interviews but in reality she was more animated and full of life. 

  • this is sick why does it have to be aimed at karen and you shouldnt slag people off who arent here to fend their selves and karen is not a barbie doll shes a human being with an illness that went a bit to far that doesnt mean she was a bad person and its people like them who make people feel insuure about their selves and that when they start losing weight by starving their selfves ause they want to be perfet but may i say somert all you that make people feel insurure your not perfect either

  • this is sik u all need to get a ife x

    

  • I saw this in Art school, so well done!

  • ah... ok. wtf, MATTEL SUE EM!!

  • @ghettomomma719 hi. i dont get how mattel managed to sue them. Surely if you buy the doll you become the owner of it, and you can do whatever you want with it, dress it how you want, display it where you want or pull it to bits if you want. Its not intellectual property or a live thing, so i really dont get it how they won todd haynes?

  • Thank you for posting this. I had it on videotape years ago but lost it somewhere along the way. Great stuff. Haynes is brilliant. If you want something really in your face try "Poison".

  • we watched this today in my film class

  • Art Institute of Chicago has a copy of this movie.  That's about the only place I know where it can be seen.

  • I wish It was better quality...I felt I missed a lot of important details because it was so dark.

    But, brilliant idea.

  • No se porque me gusta tanto como canta, en 1983 Yo tenia 16 años, y no se en que momento empece a escuchar carpentes, pero una verdadera pena que no la hayan podido ayudar, sin dudas increible voz. Alex magic, Buenos Aires Argentina

  • Fuck you people shit me no end...with your sad little sorry want to be movies

  • anorexia. anorexia is serious. but barbie dolls are not. this is called irony. wit. cleverness. and a good way to make a low budget. film. up yours non believers of Todd Haynes. put it up your bum.

  • @lorenkennedy barbie dolls are not serious? tell it to mattel, fool.

  • i am so disappointed in video...

  • Todd Haynes has always been a genius and I so love his work. This is one of the most beautiful films I ever saw.

  • Look, I found this ridiculous movie! For me it is a lack of respect for the memory of Karen!

    Note 0 for you!

  • Is Richard a homosexual?

    Discuss!

  • Comment removed

  • Im giving serious thought to remaking this, for the 40/40 years of Carpenters,

    I am looking for fans for voices of the 'cast' please message me if your interested

  • I don't think he lacked taste, The dolls were meant to convey a serious message about fame, family, dreams and self image, What do dolls represent to us:childrens play things. These are human like inanimate objects and that is how the famous are viewed by many of us; not real and lacking real problems. But her story is too heartbreaking, and her voice is too brilliant no matter what distants you're able to put yourself from it through its lack of "real" actors, she animates this film.

  • @christophertom1 I only wish I could have said it as well as you...well done.

  • ok this is so sad making fun of what happed to her . By making doll's tell her story . How sick can you be come on !. She deserve's more credit than that .

  • DO you not understand how using the doll helps young girls not end up like her? Oh you wanna look like barbie..watch this.

  • @Mizvictor07 THAT'S THE POINT!! HELLO?

  • So sad...

  • okay, I "get" it, and actually enjoyed watching it. But that doesnt make it any less weird...

    ...and I have to ask- between 5:30 and 6:00, are those "Gold Records" on the wall actually LIFESAVERS???

  • As someone who has no idea what is going on or what this is about let me just say I don't like it. What the hell is a "Karen Carpenter" anyway?

  • She was the singer of the group The Carpenters, who had a most original, haunting voice that will never ever be imitated. She died of anorexia nervosa/bulimia that she dealt with most of her adult life.

  • I was making a joke in response to the previous comment.

  • OK....I don't get it, lol

  • I don't get it either.

  • This is just so awful.

    I've never met or heard of Karen Carpenter, but for someone to re-create a scene about a person they've never even met before is just.... I don't know. It's as if the producer thinks they understand what happened without actually being there. It all feels fake and dishonorable.

    Media-wise it's probably invigorating for some people for the producer to keep the memory of this Karen alive, but by how it's done feels like an insult.

    Ah well, nothing's for everyone.

  • Count me among the people who feel this is a brilliant work of art. I saw this when it came out, at the San Francisco Art Institute (I think it was) in 1988. I think you either get it or you don't. To me it mixes pathos and dark humor in a way that speaks in more vibrant tones than the movie of the week version of the same story (which I saw as well). Oh, I have had eating disorders, so don't call me insensitive to people who do.

  • the parents arnt still alive! :P

  • No wonder why there was a cease and desist. It's like watching someone badly reenact something with barbie dolls. How could anyone create a film like that and want it to be taken seriously. I'd be pissed if I was related to someone famous who died and they made a documentary with malibu barbie. Just seems sort of tacky to me, I wouldn't want apart in a project like that either, even if the thought behind it was genuine.

  • You're wrong, on so many levels. The C&D was, at least ostensibly, about licensing the music, but actually because the movie portrayed the Carpenter family (except for Karen) in a very bad light, and Richard didn't like that.

    And Barbie is sort of a Platonic ideal of the female form. Considering Karen's body image issues, I think it's inspired.

  • How am I wrong? I stated my opinion, you stated yours. You're entitled to think what you want and I am entitled to think what I want. I think it looks stupid.

    I get the whole Barbie thing is supposed to represent stereotype on female body image. I still think it is cheap looking and if it was my family member I wouldn't want them portrayed like that either. That's just my opinion.

  • This is real life stuff, people die from anorexia and, well. I have it. And Karen was a wonderful person (: I look up to her so, so much. And It's sad she died young.

  • The first bit made me cry, i cannot watch the rest of it. :(

    RIP Karen xxxxxxx

  • saw this when i was very young

  • Pretty good film, but I can see why it will never be legally released. Between the Carpenter and Captain & Tenielle music, news footage, Brady Bunch and David Cassidy clips, etc, this film is a clearance nightmare.

  • wth is this.........

  • 1-2-2010. Ain't it fine? Todd and Garielle Cateris are both 49. Happy Birthday and Happy New Year, Todd. You have come a long way since 1985 with Assassins: A Story Concerining Rimbaud. I am looking forward to your seeing your current project, Mildred Pierce.

  • I remember when this came out in the 80s & all of the controversy that ensued. It was on Entertainment Tonight for weeks as Mary Hart & John Tesh questioned whether or not it was poor taste or a brilliant work of art. I was middle of the road. I was in h.s. @ the time & it sure made me look @ my old Barbie Dolls differently that's for sure. I, too, thought it was creepy, yet I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I found the rest online, but I can't remember the name of the website where I found it.

  • @robynsegg: UPDATE: I found my DL of it. I did get it from YT in it's entirety, but I doubt the whole 45 minute upload is still there. I think you can only find it in parts.

  • What the....? Sorry, to people who like this, but :(, I can't watch the rest. Just wanted to say, is this a real movie?:S

  • This is some weird shit.

    Especially the inclusion of Holocaust footage.

    I will stick to the other Karen Carpenter film there is out...

  • this a insult to her death

  • Poor dead Karen Carpenter!

  • classic!!!! todd has an amazing collection of work...if you like this, look for his other stuff!

  • i adore this film. haynes is brilliant. and the sets are amazing!

    kudos for helping to get this film out there!

  • The performers in this movie seem awfully stiff....graduates of the "George Raft School of Acting" perhaps?

  • It makes you wonder if they are dolls or something.

  • Dolls! That's it! The cast is nothin' but dolls! Heavens to murgatroid...no wonder there didn't seem to be much flexiblitly to their movements! Hmmm....I wonder if this director would have done "Saving Private Ryan" with GI Joes??? :)

  • i remember the first time i saw this i thought i'd be a dark comedy, with the use of comparing Karen Carpenter to a barbie doll, but its actually pretty depressing...and bizare

  • what was in the closet

  • karen carpenter.................dead

  • Media focuses too much on the appearance and less on the character. That is why most women are conscious with their appearance because people made the impression that 'beautiful' is only for those with the 36-24-36 stats. We set the wrong beauty standards, we are blinded by the curves that we haven't seen the true nature of all things. This woman has one of the greatest voices and her songs still echo everywhere. Dangerous is the vanity of man.

    As for the film, it's CREEPY! Love you Karen. :)

  • This is the CREEPIEST thing I have ever seen in my entire life. It has some sort of Dark touch on the film, and the whole Karen incident was portrayed super negatively. She was a good artist. I love her... Her songs still reign until now.

  • 0_0 using dolls what a crock of crap

  • Thank you for posting this. I saw this at the Castro Theater in SF MANY years ago.

  • I've been looking for this forever! Thank you!!!

  • LOL this is some creepy shit, lol. You kids are young....and fresh....I was waiting for him to start laughing maniacally, boohahahaha!

  • I remember watching this in health class back in high school years ago!

  • Richard Carpenter is so foolish to block this. It is the only movie I have ever seen that has the power to impact girls who actually suffer from eating disorders.

  • love this soooomuch.. i cant believe it was banned thank you utube

  • LOL @ the dolls. what is this all about?

  • The use of Barbie dolls is the filmmaker's statement about how obsession with body perfection - which is reinforced by the overly perfect Barbie doll - leads to eating disorders that killed Karen.

  • I love that they use a model of the "Now and Then" album house as the backdrop!

  • i feel so bad for her... especially because of her life long struggle

  • I don't know nor do I really care whether Richard Carpenter is gay. What I do object to is the allegation that being "alleged" or insinuated to be gay is an insult or defamation of character. Why is being thought of as gay to be labeled as slander? What a narrow-minded society we live in (in the US).

  • what would you say if someone portrayed you as a gay (unless you are gay)?

  • what would you say if someone portrayed you as straight (unless you are straight)?

  • well, yes, I am gay, so I don't care. But, that's not the point. What I don't like is when people assume that everyone is heterosexual, just like being assumed to be Christian, able-bodied, etc. I don't like being imposed on by other people's unconsidered assumptions.

  • are those lifesaver platinum records?

  • OK, I like the use of dolls because it was concept that was new that attracted my attention, the quality was awdul, I hope the original film's was better, but I imagine it did depict a lot of the character's in a poor light, but how did it imply the RICHARD CARPENTER WAS GAY?

  • This was done in very bad taste. These two people were very talented and to portray them this way is very heartless. The Autobiography in the ninety's was better. She only did two movies that one and short circuit 2. But she was a good actress.

  • no it wasn't...the whole idea of using Barbie Dolls was used because they are unnaturally skinny like Katen Carpenter was and because they give young girls an unnaturally, and unhealthy image of themselves of how they think they should look. I lost a teacher who had a heart attack because of this world wide problem of annorexia.

  • grow up

  • I just heard about this from Anne Bower's book Reel Food, Essays on food and cinema. I'd never heard of it before.

  • The whole doll thing is rediculous.

    The Carpenters were great and Karens death is a tragedy.

    Richard has a wife- he is not gay.

    Richard stood by and loved Karen as a big brother should.

    When Karen died not only did he lose his wondeful sister, His career took a severe blow, thats alot for anyone to deal with.

    I pray Richard is doing well, I would love to see him play in concert sometime.

  • the reason for the dolls was to show that the Barbie dolls who look anorexic falsely give an image to young girls of what they should look like...it isn't that hard to figure it out.

  • This whole puppet/doll thing is creepy. I like the TV movie. No offense.

  • I'm so confused...Dolls?

  • stupid video waste of time

  • The girl you are talking about is very talented and I make comments on everything I like. The girl is on track I think to become famous one day! She's talented, and very beautiful - who wouldn't want to be mom to such a special kid! No not her mom - I wish!

  • So sad to lose such a fantastic person and voice; like an angel! I found young girl who sounds a bit like Karen on Youtube Joanna Lauren - she sang Superstar and Close to you.

  • Brilliant 'contemporary art'.Actually the film was "stopped" cos Richard Carpenter was afraid everyone wud know he's GAY.

    Thanks for posting. Grandma, Ireland..Knowledge IS wisdom.

  • I just heard a teen on Youtube Joannalaurensings that sounds fantastic! OMG she sings a couple of Carpenter songs and you should go and listen! Only 17 but Lord what a voice!

  • you must be her mom i keep seeing the same freaking comment on all carpenters things

  • Well, It was actually corporate Amerikkka in the shape of toymanufacturer Mattell who pulled the plug on KCS.

    The Carpenters actually supported this and the film was championed bySonic Youth (who hired Haynes to shoot videos) and the family gave SY Karens goldplated microphone for their cover version. It's great to see this up but point your finger at the owners of this site who are also the owners of the recordlabel and Mattel who stopped this. Soon this will be taken down....

  • Wrong. You need to do more research. Richard Carpenter fought to get this movie pulled and sued for copyright infringement of the music. He also hated the film because it painted the family in such a bad light.,.not to mention insinuating he was gay.

  • Yes, the family was portrayed in a bad light, and Karen was nearly sanctified. But I'm not sure at all she was that "innocent victim" and "angel" as they try to portray her. She by herself wasn't perfect.

  • Shinefra, I don't think the point was to help people with anorexia, nor to joke about it. Rather, it's a tongue-in-cheek homage to one of Haynes' idols, Karen Carpenter. He's made several films about the musical icons of the '70s -- see also Velvet Goldmine and I'm Not There.

  • Richard Carpenter. Stop this cease or desist on this work of art. An essential movie.

  • I doubt this stupid movie can help anyone who has anorexia, it's nothing but a bad joke.

  • one of the best film ever made... thank you Todd...

  • hahaha you guys are too fucking serious. todd haynes is THE shit. he's like the epitome of video/film art.

  • I saw this film in grad school getting an MFA in film/video...it was hugely inspirational! Brilliant! Give it a chance!

  • wots this crap?

  • haha at first i was like why the fuck am i watching this but its actually pretty funny

  • I feel bad for Karen Carpenter. This is BS.

    I hope you made it much better.

  • WTF :| :| :|

  • this is a mockery to karen carpenters rememberance im not watcjing a patcy drama like this i imagine richard and family are getting another family got a backhander,they took all her control away,that's why she bacame anorexic the bastards.Imagine they are alive and she died because of them.TRUTH.

  • hilarious. these are the best comments ever

  • Wow haha

    my dad told me to watch this LOL :]

  • wat the fuck is this the movie!not even

  • i think the reason for its unavailability is down to music rights than anything else.

  • It's not the fault of Barbie dolls. Not that this film suggests that, exactly.

  • Haven't seen this since I caught it at a film festival when it was released. Thanks for posting - it's as bizarre and wonderful as I remember.

  • what the fuck are thissss,.....im looking for real movie of karen not this barbie dools.

  • thank you so much for the movie!!! :)

  • huh, so this is the movie Richard put a law suite on.

  • That's right, a three-piece suite

  • why did he do that?

  • This is sooooo creepy. But I love it...

  • This is such a creepy story, with the dolls..but pretty much the true story of the Carpenters

  • I am a major Karen fan and have been dying to see this take on her story. This is an excellent snippet. Would love to see it in its entirety. It´s genius!

  • This was actually very ahead of it's time, love it or hate it. And Todd Haynes is incredibly gifted even if his themes sometimes get a bit tedious. But you cant discount the importance of his work or dismiss it, as some here seem to. Groundbreaking stuff in those stifling boring 80's and I have a feeling some of these comments are from the young, oblivious and callow...

  • What makes you so sure that I'm the young, oblivious and callow?

    Though honestly, I agree on your review/comment.

  • i think every girl goes through this phase lol that is very 'ahead of it's time." It's called playing with dolls LOL

  • chuckle.......

  • Todd is a genius! This movie is disturbing and brilliant!

  • This is Tod's first movie. It's brillant!

  • This movie is horrifying. I have already gotten my fill on this. I am not watching it. It is inaccurate and tacky! SOMEBODY has a little TOO much time on their hands. WOW!!

  • A rather inferior, half-ass film that people got excited for some reason. Most of it simply replays the songs. There is some psychobabble regarding someone the director never met. And precious little else. How does Haynes know what happened? Was he there?

  • OMG don't be so ignorant. Haven't you ever heard of a dramatization?

  • "Dramatization" Is this a word that means you're excused for misleading people?

  • Who was mislead? It's a movie made with dolls, ffs. Anyone who would watch this expecting it to be a factual account shouldn't be seeing it in the first place.