Quite a few documentaries tend to be sobering downers – propaganda pieces even – out to hammer home a point, promote a cause, enlighten, even change the world.
On occasion, a light-hearted project springs to life on the screen – plain and simple – and manages to entertain.
Such is the case with Beauty is Embarrassing.
The documentary tosses the spotlight on a one-of-a-kind visual artist, designer, puppeteer, and raconteur by the name of Wayne White.
The filmmaker traces White’s humble beginnings as a struggling underground artist in New York’s East Village to his heady days as a major creative force behind Pee Wee’s Playhouse (which garnered him 3 Emmy Awards).
White’s career has run-the-gamut from animator for children’s shows to video artist for the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins (Tonight Tonight) and Peter Gabriel (Big Time).
At times dark periods of uncertainty and self-reflection sidelined White’s creativity.
The filmmaker – Neil Berkeley – has wholeheartedly embraced the struggles to reveal the contradictions of life, art, and family.
White jokes on-camera that the reason he has been so prolific is due to the fact he didn’t meet with financial success early on.
“I didn’t get the fuck you money that gives artists the freedom to pick-and-choose or sit on their laurels,” he kidded in so many words.
White was forced to toil away with the hope of reaching a new plateau that would bring bigger accolades.
White may have finally achieved that with his word paintings which are being touted in galleries and art circles around the country.
“Who said there are no second acts in life, F. Scott Fitzgerald?
“Fuck you,” he roars.
Beauty is Embarrassing features interviews with Paul Reubens (natch) and Todd Oldham (Designer), Matt Groening (Simpsons) and Mark Mothersbaugh (Devo) and also offers up rare behind-the-scenes footage from the sound stages of Pee Wee’s Playhouse shot decades ago.
The well-crafted doc – a bit of a vanity piece – is sure to appeal to filmgoers intrigued by the inner-workings – and complex thought processes – of a true artist and the creative mind.
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