Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?

In this "Animated Conversation with Noam Chomsky," filmmaker-animator Michel Gondry states up front that he discovered maverick academic-linguist-thinker-activist-author Chomsky, now in his 80s, through the documentaries Manufacturing Consent and Rebel Without a Pause. Gondry approached this meeting-of-minds with Chomsky partially as an exercise in virtuoso creativity, filming the subject with a clattery mechanical Bolex camera (audible on the soundtrack) and turning their topics into endlessly morphing line-art cartoons and collages. In this way, Gondry graphically exhibits his own presence as the auteur/interpreter behind Chomsky's erudition. The non-linear discourse—actually a series of sessions recorded over a two-year period—largely sidesteps Chomsky's iconoclastic political views against Zionism, militarism, corporatism, and most U.S. foreign policy. More time is spent on Chomsky's biography, along with his philosophy of human self-awareness, which arose from his landmark works in communication (Chomsky claims that how language shapes our comprehension of the world is still a “taboo” subject for modern science). Sometimes the unscripted dialogue wanders well off topic (with misunderstandings due to Gondry's thick French accent and uncertain grasp of English), but despite the occasional lack of narrative momentum, this is an uncommonly brainy film with crossover appeal for intellectuals and cartoon buffs. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD extras include a Democracy Now! interview with director Michel Gondry (41 min.), a “DOC NYC Q&A” with Gondry and subject Noam Chomsky (32 min.), a Huffington Post interview with Gondry (20 min.), a “making-of” featurette (10 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for an intellectually stimulating doc.] (C. Cassady)