Guest of Cindy Sherman (2008), Tom Donahue & Paul Hasegawa-Overacker
Essentially the video diary of Paul Hasegawa-Overacke, creater of Gallery Beat, a public access TV show featuring light-touch reporting on the NYC Art scene, as he meets, interviews, and dates Sherman. You can't help but guess that making the documentary wasn't a hugely positive contribution to the relationship, which ended before filming did. Sherman additionally disassociates herself from the film in this statement.
Like Paul's cable TV shows, Guest of Cindy Sherman can't really be said to offer particularly reaching analysis of the art world and market, or of Cindy Sherman's work. Paul's critisism of the 90's Art world being characterised by a bullish, Hemingwayesque masculinity (with the A list making bigger and more expensive work) sits uneasily with his own unreformed grappling with gender issues, and doesn't really illuminate the success of the very different approach Sherman took. His insecurity about being eclipsed by his hugely more famous girlfriend doesn't get much further than the recognition that it isn't uncommon for men to find being the less important one hard, although there's a very funny radio interview about it. As a social diary of an extremely interesting set, and as a snapshot of Shermans approach, it's very good.
The film ends up being a multi-layered but slight meditation on identity and its representation, a bit 90's itself in terms of hyper-self-referentialism. It worryingly teeters over an abyss of indulgence and vanity film making, but the directors honesty about his personal limitations and interests, and (ironically) the sheer magnitude of his ex-girlfriends talent pulls it back. The only film I've ever watched that made me glad not to be Cindy Sherman.
Rated PG for scenes where Julien Schnabel is present.
Strikes me as apt that someone who is as much apart from her own work (she's never herself in her photos you feel), would also dissassociate from a documentary about her and her "real" life.
Wonder if/when this will get a release over here, I'd love to check it out.
Posted by: Gilbert | May 16, 2008 at 11:12 AM
sorry should read "as much apart as a part" in the comment below. Comment performance anxiety stikes again.
Posted by: Gilbert | May 16, 2008 at 11:13 AM
Should read "above" for "below" in the comment above, bloody hell I'm annoying.
Posted by: Gilbert | May 16, 2008 at 11:14 AM
lol Gilbert - always a pleasure to entertain you & yr typos.
Posted by: Josie Fraser | May 18, 2008 at 07:07 PM