Akshay Lakhi Gondry, by posing as a layman and genuinely trying to understand, asks the most basic questions which Chomsky goes on to address fundamental issues in philosophy and the foundations of modern science. The animations and illustrations merging with the voice of Chomsky in the background makes the loaded philosophical and scientific content accessible to the viewer. References from classical science to Galileo and Newton drive home the essence of science, a true endeavor to move from a description to an explanation about the world. Gondry's honest admissions of losing Chomsky's line of thought, further help in bringing the viewer on to the same page.The film's frank rendition of Chomsky's personal life and academic journey sets the context for the viewer to understand the 'greatest academic alive,' thus making the film more humane and relatable.PS: do watch the film with subtitles; because their accents make it difficult to follow their speech.

Joseph Pezzuto "What makes you happy?" "I don't really think about it much." What do you get when two you combine the innovative brainwaves of French director Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep) with that of esteemed American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, logician, political commentator and activist Noam Chomsky? You get an animated documentary film in which challenges the mind and provokes thoughts to arise within the deepest spectrums of our psyches we never knew were there, with a unique choice of aesthetic. So, is the man who is tall "happy"? Let's take a look.Released in February 2013 and directed, written and animated by Gondry, he uses his own drawings to allow complex ideas into more accessible and tangible ones to expand the forum of the documentary to its fullest extent. Painstakingly taking two years of his life to doodle each and every sketch to match the soundtrack of the learned wisdom of Chomsky, Gondry indeed pulled off yet another feat with his original, audacious and colorful animation. So, is the man who is tall happy? It was twice in 2010 that Gondry met with Chomsky for a series of conversations about his deep knowledge in philosophy, linguistics and also for a glimpse through the window into the author's childhood in Philadelphia. Gondry was inspired by picking up the work of Chomsky in a New York bookshop. Deciding to first record talks with the professor at MIT, where Chomsky teaches, Gondry then used those discussions as a springboard for animated explorations of their content. Chomsky says at one point in the film, "If you're willing to be puzzled, you're able to learn," a concept he stands by as he grows. Even an intelligent man like Chomsky can be confused, it seems, and through this, we as the audience learn quite a lot indeed. Even though no one specifically asked or confronted Gondry to create a 16mm animated documentary about one of the most prominent thinkers in society, he explains that he was looking for a project to occupy his free time while editing 'The Green Hornet' and producing 'Mood Indigo'.As we the audience are seeing the ideas and theories of Chomsky come to life on the screen through the animation of Gondry, what we are actually viewing is the interpretation of those ideas and theories as Gondry depicts them. The drawings show themselves to be vivid and playful, but also a tad crude. But one cannot blame a director he intrepidly keeps us intrigued with his dancing and lively animation at 24 frames per second.Not all of the movie is theory and concept. We actually meet Chomsky halfway into the picture. H speaks of growing up with an academic "Zionist" father in Philadelphia, his experience in a grade school, the terror of race riots during WWII—filling the rounded portrait of an intensely guarded but affable man. Near the end of the film, in the sole musical portion (scored to Mia Doi Todd's "I Gave You My Home"), Gondry pays a poignant homage to Chomsky's wife of 59 years, Carol, who passed away in 2008. It appears that the man, Chomsky, is tall but not so happy, due to the death of his wife. At the end of the movie, it seems that, perhaps for the first time, the two men with very different minds might finally be on the same page.At 89 minutes, one might argue that that is too much time to be listening to a great thinker discuss theorems and ideologies of scientific concepts. In its nicest and truest form, the film plays out as a cool after school meeting with that certain professor you've always admired. Chomsky and Gondry, although mismatched on paper, share an odd but genuine chemistry when it switches back to real life.Bill Stamets from the Chicago Sun-Times puts it well: "The film's title dates from the '50s, when it served linguists as a specimen of a polar interrogative to demonstrate a structure-dependent syntactic rule. Or, in ordinary language: how a child knows which 'is' to move when changing a sentence like 'The man who is tall is happy' into a question. Chomsky explains generative grammar with ease, even as he calls language "an infinite array of structured expressions which have a meaning and a sound." The animation was truly a labor of love, dedicated solely to his "professor" that Gondry, the "pupil," looked upon with admiration and respect. Stylistically capturing beautifully abstract and yet sophisticated drawings to clarify Chomsky's occasional drivel, 'Is The Man Who Is Tall Happy?' is indeed a creative and colorful sojourn into the kaleidoscopic minds of a modern linguist and a director's whimsical and whirring animation. Again, is the man who is tall happy? Yes...yes I believe he is.

remembervhs 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

vladoron Before Michel Gondry can use his own voice in a movie, he should learn English pronunciation. The "film" would've been a bit more tolerable if he simply had kept the camera on Chomsky's face and let him talk, instead of cutting away to idiotic doodles while he himself comments on it incomprehensibly. Early on in the movie Gondry says, "My English is so bad." That ain't no lie! Between his unintelligible accent and Chomsky's monotonous drone, I fell asleep. And that's a pity, because it is always compelling to watch Chomsky, one of the finest intellects of modern times and a keen observer of American civilization. It must have seemed like a bright idea to visually dissect Chomsky's notions on linguistics, religion, philosophy, and other topics, but unfortunately this is a wasted opportunity, as there was no rigor applied to match the respect the filmmaker obviously felt for his subject. What we have here is an example of utter self- indulgence that Gondry should share only with his family and friends - if they can stay awake.