There’s a growing American mythology surrounding New York City’s artistic crowds in the ‘80s—those anti-Reagan, queer-loving, frozen garret-dwelling disruptors who blew open the arts scene with their anger at the establishment. Painter Edward Brezinski was one such artist who, with a cargo train worth of emotional baggage, died mostly forgotten in the South of France. What a way to stick the landing.

If it feels like a familiar story, that’s because it absolutely is. In Make Me Famous, the new documentary on Brezinski from filmmaker Brian Vincent, the focus rests on the artist’s rough personality and hardscrabble life, as well as his forceful methodology and knack for regularly decrying other artists’ works—the kinds of things that make success hard to come by for sure.

Brezinski proves a fascinating subject on screen due to sheer force of will, but you’d never really want to spend more than a few minutes with the guy in person. As a result, Make Me Famous is powered by its intensity even as we struggle to identify with Bresinski. But then, are we trying to connect or simply observe?

Vincent’s breakneck pacing and transitional choices could benefit from more clarity, but he does mine a ton of energetic fun from Brezinski’s NYC, even if a little breathing room would have helped. Still, Jeremiah Bornfield’s score triumphs throughout, capturing the artistic spirit as his electronic beats offer a rough but hopeful world wherein squalor is a bump in the road should you get lucky enough.

Creative decisions aside, a skilled documentarian like Vincent knows just how to make a subject interesting, not that he didn’t have help. Brezinski is equally fascinating, insufferable, tragic and bizarre; a fully realized human swept up by life’s random flows and a deep-rooted desire for recognition. An artistic presence who can’t—or won’t—navigate the commercialism of the art world isn’t anything new, but it is a recipe for trouble. Often what creators produce is far more effective once they’re out of the picture, anyway. Sorry, artsy types.

Make Me Famous may not always hit the marks, but it does overflow with passion over its subject and a reverence for its niche era. Those with an interest in art scenes will be enchanted, and for folks on the outside? Well, it ain’t a half-bad way to spend 92 minutes.

7

+Never ceases fascination; great energy

-Pacing and structure could use improvement

Make Me Famous

Directed by Vincent

Center For Contemporary Arts and VOD, NR, 92 min.