Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?

As is usual, this new interview with Noam Chomsky brings out his analysis of current and recent goings-on in the world, focusing on how U.S. might and knowledge has been misused to advance U.S. interests, not always successfully. You'll either agree or disagree, but his extensive reading and his bent for radical inquiry produce some striking eye-openers.

The interview also covers Chomsky's views on linguistics and evolutionary biology in terms that will make sense to most lay people.

But what's really new in this particular film is that we learn from Chomsky about his upbringing, his family, and his life since the death of his wife in 2008. Coming from the horse's mouth, this is quite an important addition to our understanding of a remarkable life.

Accompanying the interview are lighthearted stick-figure cartoons illustrating the points at hand. Probably the filmmaker's idea was, laudably enough, to move away from the talking heads format, but the result is pretty goofy and distracting. The interviewer's thick French accent makes his questions hard to follow, but the DVD comes with English subtitles. Plus, over the course of the interview your ears may get habituated enough to the Frenchman's distortions to make out what he's trying to say.

It's a warm, incisive, broad-ranging interview, with lots of new material for even the most dedicated Chomsky devotee.

Even when they are full of ideas, some filmmakers can be sometimes a bit 'stingy' when they try to film great thinkers. What happens when an image inventor confronts a creator of concepts? There can be many misunderstandings (maybe due to the language barrier?) and theaters can remain painfully empty. Not long ago, in 'Film Socialism', Jean-Luc Godard filmed Alain Badiou talking in front of an empty theater.

It seems that Michel Gondry accepts with great pleasure the emptiness that can sometimes separate images and philosophy on the screen. His film plays with the principle of 'illustration': this funny documentary is made of (often) naive drawings, coming from the discussion between the two men.

The viewer will not leave the theater with a manual on 'generative grammar' of the American linguist, MIT star. Instead he will be struck, blown away by the creative explosion of a free filmmaker, an inventor renewing at a rate of a thousand digressions and associations of ideas, with its memorial vein and dream, like in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep (his most romantic period). No wonder that the film is secretly haunted by Chomsky's absolute love for his late wife, Carol. Nonetheless, I found this 'little film' immensely refreshing.

Gondry, a visionary whimsical director and director of some of my favorite movies ever, and Chomsky, one of the most important thinkers and linguists of the last century, and one of the 'idols' of my youth, sit face to face and talk about stuff. What could go wrong? A lot!

Gondry is an artist, not a linguist or a scientist, so I wasn't expecting him to be at Chomsky's level on what Chomsky knows best: linguistics and cognitive science. However, he does a good job at extracting some juice about many personal matters as well as a general discussion on Chomsky's themes. The conversation is not a chit-chat for sure, the subjects discussed are complex and need of your full attention, unless you are a linguist and familiar with those. The naive animation is whimsical and humorous, hilarious at times, sentimental at others, surreal at others, but very engaging; without the animation, I might have been watching my watch as much as the movie. Besides, the animation was really on point quite often, and Gondry is able to get onto animation difficult concepts, quite abstract at times, and make them look simple for us. When Chomsky relaxes, he seems to be a nice man, and it was lovely getting to know a bit about his family background and personal life, the human behind the brain. Finally, I also loved the introduction made by Gondry on how a documentary or a film about a person is the film-maker's filtered version of a given subject or person as the film-maker decides what goes on and what doesn't in a film, how a person is portrayed etc.

A few things irritated me or disappointed me in the film. The first is Chomsky's attitude at times, arrogant and elitist, who doesn't listen to Gondry. I found ironic that he, the quintessential linguist, had difficulty understanding that Gondry's mother tongue not being English, there were some semantic confusion of misinterpretation on his part, and that Gondry wanted to explain himself properly; however, every time he did so, Chomsky cut him sharply.Also, I expect Chomsky not to act as God, as this is not an academic symposium but a documentary for the general public. Several times in the film, he says "and that is wrong" and doesn't explain why is wrong, and moves on expecting us, the viewers, to get what he means by magic!

The second thing that annoyed me was the fact that Politics were left off the movie, except for a brief comment on Sarkozy. This was never going to be a film for the Masses, or the sort of film that attracts ultraconservative viewers, so why skipping Politics altogether?

Finally, Gondry himself irritated me a bit. I love his work, his vision, the fact that he doesn't take himself too seriously, and his endless curiosity and creativity. However, at times, I felt the film was as much about himself as was about Chomsky, and there was not need for that. Chomsky is not the Kardashians, he doesn't do this sort of stuff that often, why wasting time on Gondry's personal musings? I also found surprising that Gondry didn't discuss or establish which sort of questions were off the charts beforehand, because it's a bit painful hearing him asking Chomsky how he felt about his wife's death (can't you imagine that?) or what makes him happy.

Overall, a fascinating film that requires of your full attention, but it is rewarding, never boring, and offers an insight, albeit limited, into Chomsky the real man and some fascinating subjects as the way we humans apprehend reality.

One of the other reviews here is very negative. That review's author uses terms like "self- indulgent" to describe this film.

That term is totally accurate. This movie is the definition of self-indulgence. A series of edited interviews is played while hand-drawn animations form and transform on the screen. That's the film. It sounds ridiculous.

But it drew me in and captivated me. The topics range from linguistic theory, Noam Chomsky's views on various things, and musings about his childhood. Gondry's own thoughts and interpretations, also included, seemed to miss the mark fairly often. But I felt like Gondry's voice ended up adding something to the movie. He is someone trying to understand complex concepts: sometimes he gets it, sometimes it doesn't seem like he does. From what I've written so far, this movie may sound like a nightmare to you.

However, the whole concept was so original, and the drawings were engaging and interesting - - like a hand-drawn kaleidoscope with patterns that change depending on the topic being discussed. Gondry's thick french accent might distract some viewers, but I found it intelligible (there are also hand-drawn "subtitles" when he speaks, although I found them harder to read than I did to understand Gondry's accent). Chomsky has always struck me as a compelling speaker. He is soft-spoken but knows his lines (speaking figuratively) and makes his points well.

All in all a unique and surprisingly entertaining experience. 8/10

I mean not to sound sycophantic but any document that has noam chomsky talking for 80 minutes is a valuable one. Gondry is an awkward guy which is fun to listen. They get along well. Noam is, as always, insightful and inspiring.