Guest of Cindy Sherman (Review)

If we were to go on immediate impressions, Paul H-O is the kind of guy most of us would attempt to avoid. As host of the now-defunct public access show Gallery Beat (myriad clips of which are on display in the new film, co-directed by Paul, Guest of Cindy Sherman), he was a force of underground, lo-fi nature. Armed with camera and microphone, quips always at the ready, Paul and his cohorts would tour the Manhattan art scene, skewering the pretensions of what Guest of Cindy Sherman interviewee Eric Bogosian likens to an incestuous bourgeois circle jerk. One need only watch Paul H-O win the confidence of and then proceed to piss off a literally full-of-himself Julian Schnabel to get the basic intent of Gallery Beat – nothing and no one is sacred. It’s the art of discomfort and embarrassment, overseen by a snarky surfer boy who initially gets your dander up, but then, somehow, draws you further into his sphere.

Paul H-O’s ingratiating persona worked its wonders on reclusive self-portraitist Cindy Sherman, who defied the invitations and expectations of more “legitimate” publications like Artforum by giving an exclusive series of interviews to Gallery Beat. In the process, as revealed by the archival footage gathered herein, Paul and Cindy fell deeply in love (what the film hints at through implication is as impressive as what actions it literally shows). The barbarian at the gate suddenly found himself a member of a privileged inner circle, though his impulse to comment (harshly and directly) remained, and was stoked by his constantly being in his significant other’s long and imposing shadow.

Guest of Cindy Sherman originated as a project for Paul H-O to document and counter the effects of being professionally subordinate to a loved one. In a sense, it began life as a film without a clear-cut ending, though the in media res feel to a good number of scenes works to the movie’s advantage. Paul is on a path of discovery, and he walks a fine line between the self-aggrandizing and the self-critical, admirably never tipping too far over into one or the other camp. At a certain point, it’s clear that his relationship with Cindy is breaking down, though we never see any on-camera blow-ups or revenge-tinged montages aimed at discrediting Sherman’s point of view. This illustrates the inherent contradiction in Paul H-O’s persona: for all his in-your-face, hyper-critical shenanigans, he has a genuine respect and love for all the subjects who go before his lens. In tandem with each cutting barb and forced moment of levity, everyone is permitted their say, and thus does a multifaceted portrait emerge of both a person and the world he inhabits. Guest of Cindy Sherman is a true work of talent and artistry.