Pee-wee as Himself

I don't usually review TV documentaries on my blog or letterboxd, but this felt like an exception (and at 205 mins, it's something I could have seen at a film festival, though this was made by and for HBO). Documentarian Matt Wolf crafts a captivating and complex two-part profile of actor, writer, and comedian (or really performance artist) Paul Reubens. Known better as his character Pee-wee Herman, the real Paul Reubens sits for many hours of one-on-one interviews with Wolf, which feel both candid and cagey. Reubens is an executive producer as well as the subject here, but this is not one of those celebrity bio-docs where the subject, or their estate, is clearly the principal editorial hand. That is in part due to Wolf's legitimacy as a filmmaker, but also the fact that Paul Reubens passed away from cancer before the project was finished.

Reubens, who knew he was ill during the production but kept his health secret from everyone involved, obviously had a number of things he wanted a final word on before he passed on. The long, two-part format enables Wolf to leave in some behind-the-scenes exchanges with Reubens, who wanted more control over the final product than he was going to get, without it feeling like he's resorting to a meta choice available in the toolbox of all contemporary documentarians who typically reach for it if their film needs padding or just isn't very interesting. Here though, how Paul Reubens tried to maintain control over his public persona, successfully except for two major life-changing incidents, is a key theme, so seeing him attempt to here is relevant.

As with his previous documentary feature, Spaceship Earth Wolf digs deep into the earlier history of his subject in ways that inform, even for those already well-acquainted with the origin story. Unlike so many documentaries about a celebrity or a movie, it does more than simply tell the story of how someone or something came to be and to exist in the world. The movie has a broader theme about creatives who turn a popular character into an alter ego that becomes infinitely more known and loved than the creator. Since few performers have been as intentionally eclipsed to the degree Paul Reubens was by Pee-wee Herman, he feels like the ultimate example of this phenomina, at least in terms of someone whose actual identity was never kept secret.

Documentaries about movies or movie stars don't have to be more than the story they're telling; in fact, many filmmakers damage such works by trying to graft more universal or societal relevance onto their movies than the subjects can support. Here, Wolf finds the right balance between the biography of a beloved, uniquely creative show-business figure and an exploration of American celebrity culture.