artdirector@sfreporter.com
You know those actors you recognize from a million little side roles and bit parts, but you never quite learn or remember their names? You see ‘em hit the screen and think, “Oh, that’s that guy!” and move on. Turns out, though, that they’re very much real people with real lives, real motivations, real problems. Who knew?
Jim Hoffmaster is definitely one of those people. With more than two-dozen credits under his belt—not to mention the recurring role of Kermit on the recently concluded Showtime series Shameless—it would seem to the untrained eye that Hoffmaster is doing pretty OK, but a new documentary from Santa Fe-based filmmaker Jane Rosemont aims to not only delve into the particulars of the man’s career, but explore how he came to be who he is. Acting Like Nothing is Wrong is a tough watch in some respects, but one that thankfully emerges to a place of sincerity and hope.
Hoffmaster’s early life was, in a word, tragic. Relinquished by his birth mother as a toddler, he journeyed through a hellish gantlet of foster homes and temporary families; and it almost always ended up the same: The foster families claimed they couldn’t care for him, and back into the system he’d go. He’d face sexual and physical abuse and a sort of nightmarish impermanence. Throughout the film, we learn he’s not even quite sure who his father was, though he does reunite with his birth mother just in time for her to die. You wouldn’t wish it on anyone, and yet, Hoffmaster seems to take it all in stride.
Of course, that’s relative—he’s still got lot of trauma to unpack and address, but if Rosemont’s film proves anything about the guy, it’s that he’s got heart and Olympic-level fortitude. Hoffmaster generously gives viewers a glimpse into his early life, into his ongoing vulnerabilities, as well as his present. Rosemont deftly interweaves a tale of mental health and family drama within a story of perseverance. Sure, it stings to see the man struggle with cleaning his spartan apartment, or to observe callbacks for roles that don’t work out. It stings worse to learn about how Hoffmaster still occasionally self-harms, or how he’s astutely aware of his aging and unusual looks. Yet, he talks about these things openly and shamelessly, and it’s cool that he’s pals with Santa Fe actor Wes Studi and chef Paddy Rawa of Raaga Go.
In the end, acting evens Hoffmaster out, it seems, and helps him feel seen—and you’ll absolutely root for him. If nothing else, Rosemont’s film might bring him some of the notoriety he so richly deserves. Even if the guy’s a weirdo, and he is indeed a weirdo, he’s a lovable one with talent to spare.
7
+Illuminating and sensitively told
-Some fluff; too much dancing, weirdly
Acting Like Nothing is Wrong
Directed by Rosemont
With Hoffmaster
Center for Contemporary Arts, NR, TK RUNTIME
