“Has anyone ever recoiled when you tried to kiss them?” Alex Segade asks Wu Tsang in Mishima in Mexico, a film the artists made together, in which they play artists planning to make a film based on Yukio Mishima's novel Thirst for Love. Wu Tsang says yes, “but that doesn't mean they weren't into it.” Though smoothly and lyrically shot, the film allows for plenty of pettiness and awkward digressions. It screens in the back room — a room where lighting changes from green to purple to off-white while you watch — at Michael Benevento gallery now, as part of Wu Tsang's first L.A. solo show. The rest of the work has a similar surface beauty, so the awkward embarrassments of the narratives in Tsang's photographs and films catch you off-guard. 7578 Sunset Blvd.; through July 7. (323) 874-6400, beneventolosangeles.com.

Tuesdays-Saturdays. Starts: May 4. Continues through July 6, 2013

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