Confessions of a Superhero

D: Matt Ogens

“A doctor may save your life, but will you remember him?” Maynard, Tenn., native Jennifer Gehrt addresses the camera wearing a cleavage-friendly gold-and-red halter top and thick gold bands encircling her wrists. Among the myriad costumed panhandlers – er, performers – who pose for tourist photos on Hollywood Boulevard, Wonder Woman is one of the four spotlighted in Ogens’ documentary. Gehrt does not want to save a life; she wants to be remembered, as do Christopher “Superman” Dennis, Maxwell “Batman” Allen, and Joe “the Hulk” McQueen. Ogens’ photography background is evinced by colorful, slow-moving panels as he indulges confessions of a dark, crime-ridden past; the son of an Oscar-winning mother won’t get out of his Superman costume; and a small-towner who wants to live on in a granite star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Engaging and only slightly sad, Confessions candidly perpetuates the comic superhero/superstardom theme as it undresses the lives of ordinary characters with fictitious pasts but genuine dreams.


9:30pm, Austin Convention Center

This article appears in March 16 • 2007.

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