Portrait of Jason (Shirley Clarke, 1967)

I cannot believe I hadn't seen this film until now!

Portrait of Jason | 1967.

Jason Holliday, subject of Shirley Clarke's seminal 'Portrait of Jason' is nothing short of an onscreen force: side splitting-ly funny, insightful, and wickedly talented, he wraps you up and spins you into his act so emphatically I don't think I took a breath until the end screen.

But the film also raises pertinent questions and curiosities: about the documentary form, the penetrating gaze of the lens trained on a single figure, entertainment vs. exploitation. Clarke, one of the most important experimental filmmaker's of the 20th century, places these questions throughout the film, and at the end, leaves us to consider what we've just watched, and what role we ourselves play in Jason's performance.