3/09 7:00 pm Camera 12, 3/10 9:00 PM Camera 12, 3/11 4:45 PM Camera 12

This peculiar, smouldering film grows layers upon layers as we watch it. Half the story of a director’s attempted comeback and half an expose of America’s cult of celebrity, this fictional account pushes the envelope without losing its veracity.
Clayton Beaubien (Steve Buckley) is a director who has fallen from his cult celebrity status following his brilliant first film into trolling the red carpet of celebrity. In an attempt to resurrect his career, he sets about making a piece exploring the idea of “soft celebrity,” and invites star Caprice Geoffries (Julie Atlas Muz) to be his first subject. She is a classic American celebrity: dependent on substances, out of control, made beautiful and goddesslike by a makeup and hair team and her dedicated publicist. She submits to Clayton’s questions even as they become increasingly personal, and allows him to film her gradual unravelling. There are homages here to everything from Warhol-era experimental film to blaxploitation flicks to Paris Hilton’s escapades. This strange film lingers in the mind long after it flickers to a close, and is well worth seeing if you have any philosophical interest in the nature of truth and art.