Confessions of a Superhero

Four people make their living on Hollywood Boulevard dressing up in costume and posing for photographs with tourists. The documentary follows them: the man in the Superman costume, Batman, the Hulk and Wonder Woman. All four came to Los Angeles to become actors and all four ended up on the pavement. They live according to how many photographs get taken in a day and how many dollars they are tipped. Matthew Ogens's film neither makes these people ridiculous nor asks for pity; it just listens to what they say. The most uncomfortable part is the story of the man who plays Superman: some of the past he describes cannot be verified, and rather than hide that the film shows it, without saying what the truth is either. The man who plays Batman is working on his anger. The distance between the life under the costume and the life the costume promises is the whole subject. Ninety-two minutes.