Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?

As coloured pens and a hand move across the screen in a stop-motion manner, the mental cinema is unleashed. Asking the questions in the voiceover is Michel Gondry, who speaks English with a French accent. Faltering words are immediately written down by their creator. In other words, the creative cineaste is interviewing the famous linguist Noam Chomsky. But what exactly does he ask the great American thinker?
In his film called “Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?” the French director Michel Gondry ventures into the complex thought structure of the distinguished MIT professor. The questions start with biographical stations and end in philosophical realms. Chomsky adroitly brings the conversation round to his topics and blithely snubs the filmmaker.
Their trains of thought skip from modern science to the beginnings of humanity. The theories on language evolution baffle not only the viewers, for in reflective pauses, Gondry describes his point of view as a filmmaker. He comments on the creative process, replete with stumbling blocks, and is afraid that his protagonist might die before the film is finished.
Gondry combines colourful hand-drawn animation with historical photos and video recordings of their conversations. And midstream, he integrates a delightful ode to analogue film. The filmmaker replaces his digital camera with an analogue Bolex camera, so that the recordings last no longer than 20 minutes. Although Gondry emphasises the manipulative nature of a filmic version from the beginning, he provides us with many personal insights into his way of working and thinking. At the end of this filmic odyssey, the questions are left figuratively hang- ing in the air – very much in keeping with the esteemed linguist. (ml)