By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.9
Director: Constance Marks
Country: united_states
Year: 2011
Running time: 80
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1787660/
Jason says: “I don’t have kids of my own, but I have a four-year-old niece, and Elmo sort of drove her parents up the wall, at least for a while. Something about the high voice, the talking in the third person, and utter omnipresence of the energetic, almost aggressively friendly little red monster makes him connect to kids like few other Muppets have, but at the same time makes adults grumble about how in their day, Sesame Street’s Muppets weren’t so one-note. There were more sophisticated and less annoying characters, like Grover. BEING ELMO won’t necessarily change that opinion, but it will at least let them appreciate Kevin Clash, the performer who brings him to life.
“Like many a parent of Elmo’s fans, Clash watched Sesame Street as a kid too, sharing a small house with four siblings in Baltimore. As much as the characters delighted him, he was just as curious as to how the puppets were made and how they worked, and it wasn’t long before he was cutting up his father’s trenchcoat for materials to make his own. He had a talent for it, and it wasn’t long before he was doing shows for his mother’s day care kids, then in the parks, and then on local television. He also got to meet two important mentors – Kermit Love, the Santa-bearded puppetmaker who showed him some of the tricks of the trade, and Jim Henson. He’d go through a number of different jobs before landing on Sesame Street, developing a few characters that didn’t quite connect (the most notable probably being Hoots the Owl) before picking up a red puppet that veteran puppeteer Richard Hunt just couldn’t make work.
“Much of BEING ELMO is a ‘local boy makes good’ story, and it’s a very pleasant and well-made example of the genre. The filmmakers are very fortunate in a number of ways: Their subject is an open, friendly person who never seems to be holding back but brings out extra bits of himself when performing. He’s humble and self-deprecating but takes pride in his accomplishments. While some important figures like Love and Henson are sadly no longer with us, Clash’s parents are, and the time we spend with them certainly backs up another mentor’s claim that they are the inspiration for Elmo’s boundless energy and love. Director Constance Marks and the other filmmakers were able to dig up some impressive material from the archives – it’s really an incredible stroke of luck that a visit by Clash to Love’s workshop as a teenager was recorded for a TV show.
“Some of the most intriguing bits are less biographical, though; it’s impressive to watch him both ply and teach his craft. There are clips of Sesame Street and Elmo making personal appearances, and they show us how Clash lets himself loosen up a little when performing, creating a character as well as any more conventional actor. And then there are bits when he’s meeting with a young would-be puppeteer or training the people who are looking to join the cast of the French version of Sesame Street: He’s both a talented enough performer and a good enough teacher that the audience can watch him dissect just what he does to make Elmo come to life and still have it work so well.
“Marks and her editors, Philip Shane and Justin Weinstein, do a nice job of pulling everything together; it’s a good balance between interviews, seeing Clash in action, and archive footage/photographs. Some things do seem a little conspicuous by their absence – while we see plenty of Clash’s parents and siblings when talking about his early life, we don’t get to hear from his daughter or ex-wife directly when the subject of how challenging balancing family and his heavy workload can be. And as much as I’m a fan of Jim Henson, there are times when he looms a bit large over the film’s subject, although it is interesting to see him portrayed as intimidating and/or impatient.
“Of course, by being non-confrontational and admiring like that, Marks and company manage the same thing Kevin Clash and Elmo do – they make the audience feel good. To watch BEING ELMO is to be charmed by the pair, and that’s worth quite a bit. What we see here is not otherwise hidden, despite Clash’s tendency to stay behind the scenes, but it’s nice to have a reminder that it’s there. 3 3/4 cats
“Seen 27 April 2011 in Somerville Theatre #1 (IFFBoston 2011)”
Thom says: “I’ll never be a huge fan of documentaries but because of recommendations I see quite a number of them. Other films in the garrulous genre that I’ve seen lately that I really loved include MAGIC TRIP, THE LEGEND OF LEIGH BOWERY, & A MAN NAMED PEARL. I went to see this film ostensibly to meet wonderful Chlotrudis member Vicki Oleskey who was in San Francisco on vacation. BEING ELMO is really a biographical film on Kevin Clash the man responsible for voice of adorable Elmo of Muppets fame. There are two types of documentaries that most attract my attention. One, those that enhance my appreciation or understanding of a known person, event, or attributes of life or those that inform me of something heretofore unknown. In this case, perhaps because I was rarely around children, I never fully embraced the massively influential Muppets. I saw two Muppet feature-length films featuring the powerful puppets but never watched “SESAME STREET”. I did see most of the Jim Henson films and usually found them charming. But here we learn about the puppeteer Clash, his childhood which establishes his talent and need to be an entertainer, his road as an adult where he finally ascends to his great goal of working with the Muppet crew and finally his great contribution as the talent behind the beloved Elmo, who I ended of loving. We learn little about his personal life but that’s OK too as I kept wanting to get back to Elmo. I wonder if Elmo is in the new Muppets movie with Amy Adams? 4 cats”