A marginal figure becomes the focal point of Brian Vincent’s documentary exploration of the life and somewhat mysterious end of Edward Brezinksi, an obscure painter and gallerist of the East Village art scene in the Eighties. Juicy archival footage of stylish scenemakers and art shows held in tenement slums is paired with dishy interviews with Brezinski’s contemporaries (some of whom have since died). Forty years on and they still sniff about his naked ambition to have the kind of success that Basquiat and Keith Haring enjoyed. Was Brezinski any good? “I mean, I appreciated him as a character” goes a typically side-eye testimonial. Does he warrant a full-length doc? Maybe not, but the immersion in a bygone era – one that would be decimated by addiction, AIDS, and gentrification – is the real fascination. – Kimberley Jones
