Synopsis
“Playing the role of Jason Holliday on film and in life, A
aron Payne presents himself to
Shirley Clarke and her crew doing what he wants to be doing: performing. In the spirit of
Andy Warhol’s screen tests and his
Poor Little Rich Girl (1965), Clarke filmed the theatrical hustler in her apartment with one camera over a twelve-hour period. Even with all obvious cinematic artifice stripped away – as Clarke demonstrated earlier in
The Connection – naturalism and confession prove to be alternative protective masks. As a black, gay hustler with deferred dreams, Jason represents multiple strata of marginalization, and Clarke offers this outsider persona feature-length center stage. Jason’s entertaining, anecdotal, emotional roller coaster ride reveals as much about the shadow side of American society as it is its flamboyant spokesperson. Off-screen, Clarke and her partner
Carl Lee approach the roles of the prodding director and his cameraman from
The Connection, as they attempt to wrangle emotional truth from their subject whose tears and laughter remain painfully layered and enigmatic. Pointing to film’s strange powers of psychological mediation, Clarke later revealed that viewing and editing the film changed her position toward her subject from amused and annoyed to fascinated and empathetic.” – Harvard Film Archive
