The Proverb

I saw this movie at a film festival last night and was amazed! It is only ten minutes in length but after watching it, I felt I had the satisfaction of watching a feature length film, yet I also felt as if I had just blinked an eye because I was drawn into the story so quickly and completely.

I went to the festival because I saw the director's (Todd Albertson) feature film "Soliloquy" last year and was curious as to what this film would be like. "Soliloquy" was more intellectual humor than The Proverb, which appealed on more of a guttural level, but that didn't disappoint me a bit! The film is a mock-umentary about a reporter, a pompous Dan Rather-type who takes himself a bit too seriously, doing man on the street interviews about the meaning of a proverb for the religion segment of a network news channel. The lively cast and hilarious script kept the audience and me laughing the whole time. Scott Waara (a Tony Award winning actor & singer from "The Most Happy Fella"), in particular, steals the show. A great scene involves Nancy Stafford (who co-starred on the "Mattlock" TV show with Andy Griffith) feeding cheese wiz to her on-screen boyfriend. Lauren Roman (who I remember from "All My Children") also gives a gut-wrenchingly funny performance.

The film manages to paint an affectionate portrait of its quirky characters without ever losing sight of the ridiculousness of their needy world. I would have guessed that Christopher Guest was involved in this project because it reminds me a lot of "Waiting for Guffman," "Best In Show," and "A Mighty Wind," but he was not. To add another twist to this film, it was done experimentally in one week (from idea to finished product) with no budget. Everybody contributed his or her time for just the fun of doing it. What a team! I hope they all work together again like Christopher Guest's people do. If this were a feature, it would win big time awards!

To quote Lawrence Welk in summing up the entire film, it is "Wunderbar, Wunderbar, Wunderbar!!!"

I saw this film Saturday and unashamedly laughed the entire time. It was absolutely a hoot! I entitled my summary "Well Done, Charming, Hilarious, and Underrated" because this film is independent and experimental, and as such, it will not have a chance to be seen by "Joe (or Josephine) Average American" at a megaplex theater near you. Rather it will be shown in film festivals and in New York & LA to a more "sophisticated" film crowd, which is too bad for the average film goers.

The cast was impeccable - Scott Waara (who won a Tony award in 1992 for his roll in Broadway's The Most Happy Fella) was outstanding as the lead. His co-stars' Nancy Stafford (from the Mattlock TV series), Lauren Roman (from All My Children), Chris Prizzi (from Law & Order), and newcomer Anna Wang all gave equally as flawless of performances as that of Warra.

The director (Todd Albertson), the writer, and crew also did an outstanding job in storytelling and presenting the story visually & cinematography. To summarize once again, The Proverb was well done, charming, hilarious, and underrated. I encourage anyone who gets a chance to see this at a boutique showing to seize the opportunity. Twenty years from now, I am certain film students across the world will see this in their class as an example of an experimental mockumentary piece. It is that good!

It has been said that the Indian people don't appreciate American satire, but I beg to differ when it comes to "The Proverb." I just found this movie in video store in Calcutta In India, we have a multitude of religions (Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, to name just a few). We see religiosity in most of these. If you've ever experienced pompous religion, and love satire, this is your movie! Those who would slam it probably do not get it and that's fine but those of us who do will see it multiple times. This movie does for religion what "This Is Spinal Tap" did for musicians. That means it may not be a movie for everyone but for those chosen ones, it means getting together with friends a couple of times a year to enjoy a classic and quote it constantly on those other 363 days when they're not watching it! If you find religion funny, then I need you to go ahead and check out this movie, uh that would be great. I rated it a 10 and it is by far the best movie I've seen all year.