Who are we – and who do we think we are? How do we make the selves we present to the world – and who are we really, underneath the social masks we wear every day? These are some of the questions posed by Self Made, an extraordinary debut feature by acclaimed British artist Gillian Wearing. A hybrid undertaking, Self Made is at once documentary, artwork, social experiment and performance project – bringing together a diverse group from the British public, non-actors every one, and offering them the chance to discover something about themselves through performance.
Emotionally affecting for participants and viewers alike, Self Made reveals how the very process of acting can lift the lid on unexplored aspects of our psyches.
Surprisingly hard-hitting and engrossing throughout thanks to Wearing’s delicate style and some fascinating protagonists.
Like many things here, it needed to be explored in more depth.
Though it’s hard to avoid the feeling that Self Made is better suited to television than to the movie screen, Wearing’s cast of non-professionals is engaging and charismatic.
This is a glib, exploitative project that toys with vulnerable people. It is perhaps of limited interest to popular audiences, but of value to film and drama students.
Emotionally affecting for both participants and viewers alike, this is a film which reveals how the very process of acting can – sometimes productively and sometimes dangerously – open up unexplored aspects of our own psyches.
This film is bound to divide opinion, as for it to succeed, it relies on its audience’s acceptance of the method acting technique.
macrobert, Stirling from Tuesday October 11, 2011. More info: www.macrobert.org
General release. Check local listings for show times.