One of the great things about living in New York is the constant potential for new discoveries. This film is one of those hidden treasures.
Documentaries about obsessive eccentrics are becoming increasingly common, but rarely are they as affecting as Matt Ogens’ chronicle of four celebrity impersonators who can’t decide if they are living their dreams or watching them dashed.
*** | documentary
These aspiring actors spend their days dressed as superheroes, posing cheerfully for pictures on Hollywood Boulevard. At night they go home to tiny apartments that are either starkly empty or cluttered to the point of suffocation.
Homelessness, addiction, humiliation and fear are among the demons they fight while looking for better lives or, at least, meaning within the ones they already have.
Confessions of a Superhero
Not rated. 1 hour, 32 minutes. Directed by Matt Ogens. Photography by Charlie Gruet. Opens today at the Starz FilmCenter.
