Dark Star: HR Giger's World

The film is fascinating, even if you're resistant to this dark star's gravity.

It's also genuinely warm and involving because of the participation of everyone from Carmen Vega, Giger's widow, to Sandra Berretta, Giger's former assistant and self-described "life partner." The film is, in that sense, an effective memorial, one filmed after Giger himself admitted that he had said all he wanted to say in his art.

Fails to bring Giger to life in any kind of illuminating way.

The film fails to represent how singular and influential the late Giger is in popular culture.

Dark Star might have been more fascinating had Sallin delved deeper into his place as an artist.

What’s perhaps most telling about the artist himself is a later-in-life project he builds in his cluttered backyard, a sort of funhouse ride through his own psyche.

This disordered portrait seems heavily influenced by its equally jumbled setting.