Casting About

Originally, Barry Hershey was trying to find lead actresses for a film. But, shucks, making a movie is awful hard. Luckily, he had hours of casting footage! Why not slap them together in an “homage” to womanhood? Well, for starters, because actresses submit to the casting process to get a role, to stand out from the cloud of available talent. It’s painful—and not a little creepy—to see Hershey’s collage bully them right back into the blur. There’s no insight here, only voyeurism, and one blisteringly fine German performer reading from Hershey’s appalling script. Luckily, Hershey’s documentary is itself an audition—and brother didn’t make the cut. (Opens Fri; Cinema Village.) — Helen Shaw