7. Ciao! Manhattan (1972)
This film is essentially an autobiography of Edie Sedgewick, one of Andy Warhol's Superstars who had severe mental health issues as well as a serious addiction to virtually every drug on the planet. The film (which pretends it's not Sedgewick but a girl named 'Susan') documents her climb to stardom via Edie's audio recordings on her time in the Factory and her subsequent decline as a drugged out, burned out mess who lives in the swimming pool of her socialite mother's mansion. At the beginning of the film Susan is picked up, standing topless by the road, by a hitchhiker who brings her home. Her mother promptly employs him to be her minder. Susan spends a lot of time in her pool talking nonsense to the hitchhiker and rolling around topless. The sad thing is, I think Edie is too whacked out on drugs to be acting, I think that she is being herself, and the decline from the blazing Andy Warhol starlet to this topless, gibbering, befuddled mess is quite distressing. It is car wreck entertainment. Looking at this footage, it is little wonder that Sedgewick died of an overdose not long after filming. She had just gotten married and was supposed to have a brand new chance at life. However, she was hopelessly addicted to drugs and this film is her pathetic swan song. Ciao Edie!