Crappy film

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

For those who like to see beautiful women sob over how hard it is to be a model, try Sara Ziff's "Activist" documentary about the beauty business. Entertaining maybe but it really missed the boat on what it could have shown about this industry. There is some good points in there adding up to 10 minutes of good material total mostly about photographers groping young women. Most of it comes down to Ziff crying over pimples and how tired she is to work 16 hours a day for a fashion week, how demanding it is to make 100 K in an ad campaign and lying about your age. This is clearly a case of losing perfective by being in a small circle for too long.Ziff seems like a girl with a head on her shoulders but shouldn't be calling herself an activist by any means. Worst humblebrag doc ever.

I have seen many a fashion doc: September Issue, Valentino: The Last Emperor, Seamless, Scrath the Surface...and Picture me is by far the best. In addition to getting amazing backstage access (Most of the footage behind the scenes are filmed by the films protagonist, Sara Ziff, and her comrade/friend Caitriona Balfe...) it also boasts very honest assessments of the industry by actual top models. The narrative is set up to give you a lay of the land as to what it is to be a top model. The term "supermodel" is a misnomer given to anyone from Hooters waitresses, Hawaiian Tropics bimbos to Low Rider magazine cover models. The only true supermodels are the fab five from the early nineties: Cindy, Naomi, Christie, Linda and Claudia. Being a successful model does not give you instant name recognition. If you are stomping the catwalks of Lagerfeld, Valentino, Prada or Gucci (just to name a few)and snapped in the pages of Vogue, then you are a top model. Sara Ziff made a stellar, memorable and extremely fast rise to the top of the heap. It is astounding how down to earth and realistic she is in the midst of all this reverie. The other models she hangs with also seem in tune with reality and are bright, self aware young entrepreneurs: using beauty and charm as their product. In addition to the fun glamorous side of the business, they also delve into the dark side of modeling: the creepy photogs who exploit these girls with scary advances, incredibly challenging work/travel schedules and constant scrutiny by people who seem programmed to offend though they have no right to judge perfection. This film ends on such a high, pleasant and endearing note: you'll forget that these girls are mannequins on display...and perhaps come away from this humanizing them instead of objectifying them. Aust see for fashion-philes.

This documentary takes you into the hectic, and not always glamorous look at the life of a model. With the excitement comes a huge amount of stress and exhaustion. Ole Schell and Sara Ziff, with the help of many others, showed all sides of this lifestyle. From the early morning calls, to the many deadlines, to the huge amount of time spent on planes, and the large sum on the checks, all the way to the meltdowns from sheer tiredness and pressure, I learned quite a bit more than I knew before. I feel more enriched for having seen it. I do recommend it highly for those interested in becoming a model, and for those just curious like myself.

One wonders if Sara Ziff's career as a top model will come to an abrupt end after this expose, she and Ole Schell, her former boyfriend, made about the ugly side of high fashion. It feels a case of biting the hand that fed her. The documentary is not without its merits, especially the somewhat upbeat note in which it ends, as Ms. Ziff is to begin her studies at Columbia University.Before all that, we are given glimpses of that rarefied world in which emaciated young women are used to sell upscale schmattes that fat society matrons will buy for their galas and functions. Those wealthy ladies are ultimately the target from the designers, who present their clothes on the skinny young women that will never wear the overpriced numbers seen in the social pages.Sara Ziff started modeling when she was fourteen. She comes from a comfortable living Manhattan family where the father is a university professor, who brags shamelessly about her daughter's obscene paychecks, and a lawyer mother. She then went to a full time career selling an image of sophistication and glamour in the glossy magazines that cater to our shallow society.Being a top model has its disadvantages in spite of paychecks of $80,000 and $112,000, Sara shows us. The grueling circuit where these women follow will make even the more grounded girls get sick because their lack of nourishment and sleep. Ms. Ziff even has to deal with the outbreak of horrible pimples in her face as she is about to do a job.The best part of the documentary involves other models examining the way they are exploited by men that want to use them for their own sexual gratification, as well as the leering paparazzi that hang out while these women run naked backstage changing outfits. They have to endure fashion designers that will belittle them in pointing out the way they perceive the way their bodies look in certain outfits.We caught with this documentary at the Angelika recently. There were a few model types who sat glued to the screen, probably identifying with Ms. Ziff's complaints. Sara Ziff, who is supposedly photographed doing her work at different years, never changes, something one suspects was done at one time, as it does not make much sense she looks the same at eighteen as twenty-four.One can only hope Ms. Ziff was clever enough to invest her money wisely because it will probably help her in her old age, which can be cruel to women in that world.