Rating: 16/20
Plot: The life and work of a unique artist, Wayne White, a guy who writes dirty words on landscape paintings and made puppets with Pee Wee Herman.
Add this to the pile of documentaries about weird artists or otherwise-abnormal individuals that I like. White's an interesting guy because of his background in the hills of West Virginia or someplace like the hills of West Virginia and his emergence as this creative force in what I'd imagine is an area not known for treatin' people who make art kindly. I like art that seems to have been made by an artist who only wants to please himself. I also like my art with a dose of irreverence; the less serious the art, the more likely that I'll appreciate it, and White's funny word paintings don't really say much of anything but made the teenager inside me (poor choice of words?) giggle (that makes it worse, right?). That's the part of me that appreciates art, by the way--the immature side of me. It's the same reason I'd still watch Pee Wee's Playhouse, and White was a puppet-creating machine and puppeteer on that show. Seeing a bit of the behind-the-scenes stuff with that show was really great for this fan, of course. I also liked watching him make and then wear a giant LBJ head, and a gigantic and gigantically goofy museum piece was about the most whimsical piece of art that I've ever seen. This is a funny and inspiring documentary that almost approaches touching at one point, and I really enjoyed it. I just love creative people, and the world would be better off--at least way more interesting--if it was inhabited by more Wayne Whites.
My favorite part: White says, "You're only going to be on this earth for 80 years, so you better get on it. Time's running out." And then the next shot is him dancing in a giant LBJ mask. Beautiful editing there.
My brother recommended this to me because he had noticed that I hadn't used the word "whimsical" on the blog for a while.
Here's a word painting that I stole from somebody on the Internet:
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