Party Monster (2003) provides strange, compelling insight into the 80's club kid scene from the perspective of its narrator; flamboyant socialite James St. James. St James tells the story of the meteoric rise of Michael Alig, a shy but ambitious boy from the midwest who moves to NYC to learn "the art of infamy". Alig aspires toward (and in many ways achieves) a sort of subculture celebrity--becoming famous in the club scene for doing nothing but showing up; and long before the age of reality tv. Both a montage of outrageous self-absorption and a fascinating acid flashback to the 1980's, the film's characters are shallow and self-involved but remain, somehow, largely likable beneath all of the glitz and glitter. A cautionary tale about drug addiction and murder, Party Monster is arguably even better interpreted as a story about a generation's obsession with excess, glamour and over-the-top style.
