Portrait of Jason

Shirley Clarke's 1967 stream-of-consciousness character study of Jason Holliday, aka Aaron Payne, is a landmark work of nonfiction and LGBT filmmaking. Ostensibly part of the cinéma vérité movement, this offbeat portrait, shot over a single night in a 12-hour session and edited to just under two hours, straddles the line between documentary and performance-art piece. No other person appears in front of the lens but Jason, a gay black man who plays to the camera and the skeleton crew (who are heard throughout but never seen), telling stories and doing impressions as if he's both the host and star of his own one-man show—a would-be nightclub headliner if you will (and it's not clear how much is true and how much is flight of fancy). But between his paroxysms of laughter and endless glasses of vodka, Jason discusses how he grew up poor and outcast and learned to survive as a flamboyant queer in 1960s America. A scruffy, raw production, Portrait of Jason finally bows on home video in the U.S. thanks to Milestone Film & Video's systematic restoration of Clarke's filmography. Released on DVD and Blu-ray, this edition, built on materials found through a worldwide search, recovers lost footage and visual detail but leaves intact the gritty 16mm texture that Clarke treasured, along with adult subject matter, frank language, and drug use. Extras include outtakes, archival interviews with Clarke, and the audio-only “The Jason Holliday Comedy Album,” a wonderful rarity that makes an excellent companion piece. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)