At age 11, Kevin Aucoin knew what he he wanted to do with his life. He began by applying makeup to his sister, mother and himself and learned he could transform faces. The film is mostly compiled of his own "time capsule" clips from the 80's & 90's which features Aucoin creating unique looks for Super Models and celebrities with his makeup techniques. His strong need for perfection dictated that he control many aspects of the photo shoots & videos in which he was involved, which yielded dazzling results. This film's intimate footage feels almost autobiographical.
7 Reviews
Beautiful and tragic
staciarose208 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers
I've been a fan of his work from the 90's and on (I still have the books), but for years I had it wrong with the cause of his death. This entire time I thought it was his medical condition, but it was self destruction and addiction to pills. So sad. What a loss. It completely shocked me to hear that. I wish he could've loved himself.
The man who made the stars shine
njm09233 September 2019
This documentary follows the life of makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin. Through interviews with family, friends, partners, fashion industry icons & celebrities; as well as pictures, video & letters made by the artist himself, Larger Than Life is an intimate look at his rise to becoming the most sought after fashion makeup artist in the world. The film also addresses the challenges he faced, both physically and emotionally, that followed him throughout his life & played a significant role in his tragic, untimely death.
I've been a fan of Kevyn Aucoin & his amazing talents for a very long time. (I have all his books!) This film was an excellent tribute to a remarkable man who loved making the world a more beautiful place.
Extreme Talent, Extreme Tragedy
louispeter-2305723 February 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Captivating documentary about rising makeup star Kevin Aucoin. Fate and destiny brought him to be the best in his profession. Fortunately his birth mother gave him for adoption, otherwise he might have not realized his potential. Sad to hear his birth mother talk about her faux religious beliefs about homosexuality; ignorant and ill informed. One of the best documentaries that I have watched,
A Loving & Insightful Star-Studded Tribute to Kevyn Aucoin
Hallelujah2893 April 2019
Years ago in high school a theater and makeup enthusiast classmate with a love of the different recommended one of Kevyn Aucoin's makeup books to me which I checked out from the library. Reading it, I was impressed with not just the intelligence of Aucoin's makeup techniques but with his sense of devotion to the beauty of the unique. He seemed to have a real earnest desire to make women care about their beauty which really resounded from the page.
Documentary "Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin's Story" does a good job of getting this same sense of what Aucoin hoped to inspire in people and of what he did inspire. It details his rise to fame, his eventual stardom and his capitulation from that stardom to the end of his days at the young age of forty due to a mixture of long term illness and an addiction to pain killer drugs. Aucoin is portrayed as a sweet but intense person, which made for his high charm but also the extreme of his co-dependency.
Family members, childhood friends, lovers, and many high profile models (Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Chrissy Turlington among others) make up the numbers of people who speak adoringly of Aucoin, but with the balance of their own observations to make. Other celebrities come to speak also, such as Cher and Tori Amos. Tori Amos in particular has thoughtful things to say about Aucoin and about the world of celebrity that let Aucoin down in the late stage of his career when perhaps in part due to his drug habits and some negative media attention many were instructed not to hire Aucoin, and they didn't.
Overall, "Larger than Life" is a loving, but keenly aware biography that doesn't focus on negative aspects of Aucoin's life but doesn't neglect the mention of such details that make his ultimate end understandable. One doesn't like to think Aucoin's life ended because of drugs, because he is so beloved in the makeup industry, but that it did doesn't mar the person Aucoin was and what he meant to do for others, which perhaps he could not do for himself as a few in the documentary seem to suggest. And that is think of himself as beautiful.
High marks for this documentary and the way it was assembled and the many perspectives it drew from. Aucoin kept many photos, journals and even video on which to draw from and so the documentary is as rich in Aucoin in his own vision as it is the vision of others.
As for criticism, I did think the 1hr 42min length was overly long, but this is forgivable because the narrative arc is never lost and the documentary as a whole is highly organized. If you are a staunch Aucoin fan you will appreciate the extra materials. If you have mild interest it will hold your attention overall. Aucoin had a rich life and a good mission and a great impact that you may not be entirely aware of. This documentary does do a good job of filling you in, like it did for me. While I have read one of Aucoin's book I didn't know just how far his fame went and what he did, and so the documentary was educational to me.
9/10
Documentary "Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin's Story" does a good job of getting this same sense of what Aucoin hoped to inspire in people and of what he did inspire. It details his rise to fame, his eventual stardom and his capitulation from that stardom to the end of his days at the young age of forty due to a mixture of long term illness and an addiction to pain killer drugs. Aucoin is portrayed as a sweet but intense person, which made for his high charm but also the extreme of his co-dependency.
Family members, childhood friends, lovers, and many high profile models (Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss, Chrissy Turlington among others) make up the numbers of people who speak adoringly of Aucoin, but with the balance of their own observations to make. Other celebrities come to speak also, such as Cher and Tori Amos. Tori Amos in particular has thoughtful things to say about Aucoin and about the world of celebrity that let Aucoin down in the late stage of his career when perhaps in part due to his drug habits and some negative media attention many were instructed not to hire Aucoin, and they didn't.
Overall, "Larger than Life" is a loving, but keenly aware biography that doesn't focus on negative aspects of Aucoin's life but doesn't neglect the mention of such details that make his ultimate end understandable. One doesn't like to think Aucoin's life ended because of drugs, because he is so beloved in the makeup industry, but that it did doesn't mar the person Aucoin was and what he meant to do for others, which perhaps he could not do for himself as a few in the documentary seem to suggest. And that is think of himself as beautiful.
High marks for this documentary and the way it was assembled and the many perspectives it drew from. Aucoin kept many photos, journals and even video on which to draw from and so the documentary is as rich in Aucoin in his own vision as it is the vision of others.
As for criticism, I did think the 1hr 42min length was overly long, but this is forgivable because the narrative arc is never lost and the documentary as a whole is highly organized. If you are a staunch Aucoin fan you will appreciate the extra materials. If you have mild interest it will hold your attention overall. Aucoin had a rich life and a good mission and a great impact that you may not be entirely aware of. This documentary does do a good job of filling you in, like it did for me. While I have read one of Aucoin's book I didn't know just how far his fame went and what he did, and so the documentary was educational to me.
9/10
The Life & Times Of A Doomed Cosmetician
StrictlyConfidential21 April 2020
As the saying goes - "Kevyn Aucoin made you feel beautiful!"
Kevyn Aucoin (1962-2002) was a very successful American make-up artist who (throughout the 1990s) had been applying cosmetics to the faces of many top supermodels and big-name celebrities (both women and men) who had personally sought him out for his groundbreaking "contouring" techniques.
Competently directed by Tiffany Bartok - This "Larger Than Life" bio-documentary certainly gives you the whole story behind the life and times of Kevyn Aucoin.
Kevyn Aucoin (1962-2002) was a very successful American make-up artist who (throughout the 1990s) had been applying cosmetics to the faces of many top supermodels and big-name celebrities (both women and men) who had personally sought him out for his groundbreaking "contouring" techniques.
Competently directed by Tiffany Bartok - This "Larger Than Life" bio-documentary certainly gives you the whole story behind the life and times of Kevyn Aucoin.
Nothing About Eva!
phildeesnow19 December 2022
Great documentary about Kevin, but as a close friend i must say i'm really offended by the way the person in charge (i'm assuming his ex-husband) edited out chunks of his personal life.
I mentioned Eva in the subject line, because everyone that knew him, in one way or another, also knew her. I'm talking about his right hand, and best friend.
Maybe because she was the one warning him, about the way, his then boyfriend would end up screwing him. And she was right, the proof is right here on this exploitative documentary, that ended up not telling the real truth about the business and the money that was wasted.
Eva was one of the first Transexual girls who came from Germany when things were extremely hard for the now LGBT community, she made herself know by her own merits and they were together all the way until the end.
I'm sure Kevin would have despise the way they erased her from memory.
Rest in peace, dear friend.
( If by chance, anyone knows the whereabouts of Eva Lange, aka. Eva Love, please let me know)
I mentioned Eva in the subject line, because everyone that knew him, in one way or another, also knew her. I'm talking about his right hand, and best friend.
Maybe because she was the one warning him, about the way, his then boyfriend would end up screwing him. And she was right, the proof is right here on this exploitative documentary, that ended up not telling the real truth about the business and the money that was wasted.
Eva was one of the first Transexual girls who came from Germany when things were extremely hard for the now LGBT community, she made herself know by her own merits and they were together all the way until the end.
I'm sure Kevin would have despise the way they erased her from memory.
Rest in peace, dear friend.
( If by chance, anyone knows the whereabouts of Eva Lange, aka. Eva Love, please let me know)
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