"My Kid Could Paint That"
(Sony Pictures, 2008)
This is a fascinating, vexing, involving documentary about four-year old Marla Olmstead, an apparent child prodigy whose rapid elevation in the modern art world led to a media frenzy and inevitable attempts to "debunk" her work. The least interesting and most cliched question is the "but is it art?" trope. Yes, it's art; it doesn't matter if a four-year old painted the pictures. But more troubling is the question of whether or not the girl's parents coached her or did touch-ups of her paintings. My wife and I pored over the film (and the highly helpful postscript bonus features) and debated the likelihood that the girl's father may have faked or doctored some of his daughter's art. Ultimately we decided it was unlikely: the child seems pretty articulate and able to speak up for herself, and if her parents had been using her in a hoax, she probably would have said something and blown their cover. Also, as doting parents ourselves, we are all too familiar with the dynamic of trying to get our little angel to show off some clever new thing to her grandparents, etc., and having freeze up or only say "poop!" instead of reciting the Gettysburg address. So, yes, it seems highly probable that this kid is an amazing painter and that, when some news crew or whatever tries to film her painting a masterpiece, that she'd get self-conscious and do something less complex than she otherwise might. At any rate, the film itself is well structured to stimulate lively conversation and debate, and it is an utterly fascinating film. It would be great to see a follow-up film made several years from now, in sort of a "21-Up" format. Definitely worth checking out!

"Jakers: Sheep On The Loose"
(Paramount/Entara, 2006)
My kid picked this one out at the library, and I shuddered... I shuddered again when we started to watch it, and the faux-claymation CGI kicked in... But then, it turned out that Jakers is pretty good! It helps that the show is ostensibly Irish (the show's anthropomorphized animal kids are growing up in a rural Irish village) and that there are so many cute accents. The content is also good, fairly complex stories about these polite, cute little kids solving life problems -- starting school, losing a pet, etc. -- with a much-welcome absense of loud music, shrill voices or simplistic, dumbed-down writing. The episode where one of the kids loses a pet -- his goldfish, Thor -- was particularly strong. Ferny, the kid, gets completely bummed out and his friends can't think of anything that will cheer him up. They start to get worried and ask an adult what to do... The parent suggests that they hold a wake to celebrate Thor's life, and frank, compassionate discussion about loss and mourning ensues. It was a pretty good treatment of the subject, I thought... This show is probably best for slightly older kids (six and up?) but I thought it was surprisingly well produced. Worth checking out!

"Go Diego Go: Wolf Pup Trouble"
(Nick Jr., 2005)
She also picked this out. **Sigh** But I gotta say, while the original Dora The Explorah show is completely moronic, at least Diego has a little bit of intellectual heft to it. Not much, but a little. And it's nowhere near as shrill or repetitive as Dora. Plus, the music is a lot better. Thank god.

"Do Not Adjust Your Set"
(BBC/Tango Entertainment, 1967/2005)
And now, for something completely different. This short-lived 1967-68 BBC series was, indeed a proto-Flying Circus, with the core of the Monty Python crew just waiting for Graham Chapman and John Cleese to arrive. Many reviewers have mentioned that this was originally intended as a children's programme, which in effect meant that the comedy skits, while often quite similar to the later versions that would appear on "Monty Python," are mainly different because of their brevity: the same kooky tone is present, but the ensemble generally quit a skit at the simplest iteration of the joke, whereas in the later shows, they would have things get much weirder and let the jokes go on and build up to greater degrees of absurdity, with the excessiveness of the repeated punchlines being a big part of the humor. Still, it's pretty cool to see Idle, Jones and Palin testing their craft. Probably more immediately gratifying is the extensive footage of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, which generally performed 1-2 songs per show, in a variety of daft concepts and weird clothing: for fans of the band, this collection is a clear must-have, and a great chance to see Vivian Stanshall and cohorts in their early glory years. (Included in one episode is their Elvis-y version of the fabled "Death Cab For Cutie"; the same episode also features Eric Idle fronting the band for a psychedelic tribute to Captain Fantastic, the hero of a somewhat belabored dada-ist spy sketch that ran the length of the show... Captain Fantaastic was dumb, but the song is great.

"Chop Shop"
(Koch Lorber, 2008)
As with his previous film, Man Push Cart, director Ramin Bahrani paints a bracingly honest portrait of immigrant life on the economic edges of New York City. In "Chop Shop" we meet two orphaned children, energetic, enterprising Alejandro, and his older sister Isi, who he takes care of more than she takes care of him. At the start of the film, Ale is out on the streets, working any angles he can think of to find food or small change. When an opportunity for work (and a place to stay) arises, he seizes it instantly, and swiftly settles into a position as an assistant in a low-rent auto garage in New York's "Iron Triangle", where dozens of so-called "chop shops" compete for business from gruff New Yorkers driving an endless stream of beat-up old cars. Alejandro winds up in one of the more honest shops, living in a cramped space above the garage floor, learning the tools of the trade and using his considerable charisma and self-confidence to steer potential customers into the front door. Chop Shop shares several themes with Bahrani's earlier masterpiece, Man Push Cart, but differs from that film in that no back story is presented to explain why or how these kids would up homeless -- they just are, and they simply deal with the situation as best they can. Like Man Push Cart, the movie is full of tension and dread, but often defies viewer expectations, which are generally shaped by decades of cliched storytelling. Bahrani's films, however, are anything but cliched -- his cinema verite style creates an earthy, palpable reality, one that draws you in completely and rivets your attention. The dramas he presents are both so humble and so dire that they are utterly compelling, and make this a very fine film. Great acting from his cast, particularly from Alejandro Polanco, a natural actor with as much charm and inner wit as his character, and Ahmad Razvi, who plays one of the neighboring garage owners. The cast features many actual chop-shop workers, adding an extra layer of reality and authenticity to this remarkable film. Definitely worth checking out!

"Peter And The Wolf"
(Magnolia, 2008)
Technically stunning, and thematically dark, this amazing adaptation of Sergei Prokoviev's classic children's piece, features marvelous stop-motion animation from director Suzie Templeton. The film places "Peter" squarely back into its Russian origins, but rather than an idealized rural-agrarian past, it places the story in a more modern setting, amid glum, drab, rundown shacks and tattered forests, a grim vision of a Soviet-era or post-Soviet Eastern Europe, complete with gun-toting thugs (the hunters of the original story here seem more like cold-hearted militiamen) and the nearby village appears as a rundown, dismal cinderblock outpost. Amid this crushing gloom, Peter finds wonder and joy, unlocking a secret garden where he and his friends the bird and the duck (both crippled and unable to fly) are able to play and forget the bleakness around them. While this may sound a bit miserable, the film itself is a marvel: the amount of work that went into this film is amazing, with Templeton devoting a full five years of her life to completing the piece. Equally engrossing are the added special features, including a making-of video and interview with Templeton and her cohorts that gives a sense of the sheer scope of their project, and the level of detail that went into this production. While the film itself may be a bit dark for smaller children, it will enthrall older kids and adults alike... This is a real class act, a film worth having and viewing for years to come. Recommended!

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