Nothing Special

In the inspired latest from Irish writer Flattery (Show Them a Good Time), a woman looks back on her disaffected youth in 1960s New York City, where she falls into the Andy Warhol scene. In 2010, Mae reflects on her estrangement from her late mother, which intensified in 1966 when Mae was 17 and feeling aliened from family, classmates, and city. She drops out of high school for a secretarial position working for Andy Warhol, and works at his studio with teenage runaway Shelley transcribing two years of Andy’s tape recordings. Invigorated by the work and her friendship with Shelley, Mae feels most connected to the scene while listening to the tapes, believing it’s the “only thing worth doing.” On them, art stars such as Ondine divulge their intimate secrets. Over time, the vanity and voyeurism surrounding Mae prompts her to turn inward, and she starts inserting her own personality into the transcriptions, which drives a wedge between herself and the studio. In a canny move, Warhol’s factory, shown only amorphously, is stripped of the usual mythology and comes across more sweatshop than creative hotbed, a “doll house, with girls arranged everywhere.” Against this gloomy background, a self-possessed Mae tries to find her 15 minutes of fame. Flattery’s fresh take on familiar lore makes this something special indeed. Agent: Tracy Bohan, Wylie Agency. (July)