The Sweetest Sound

Alan Berliner continues to make some of the most quirky, interesting and personal documentaries around, often bringing a great deal of humor to what could be over-serious material.

Here, he examines the meaning and value of one's own name, and the strange reality that almost all of us share our names, a key part of our sense of identity, with many others. As part of this exploration, Berliner invites all the "Alan Berliner"s he can find to a dinner, and ends up with 13 namesakes at one meal, including the French filmmaker Alain Berliner, who did the much acclaimed "Ma Vie En Rose", which the documentary film-maker got sick of being congratulated for. This is a fun film, but one that also provokes deeper thought about the meaning of names and identity.

I was luckily able to attend a showing of Alan Berliner's new 'The Sweetest Sound' last night for free with a following Q&A by the director.

The Sweetest Sound -- as has been stated -- is about the director's obsession with his own name, and his selfishness of wanting to be the only one to have that name. He goes through a process of interviewing friends, studying old footage, and eventually having a dinner party with the 12 other Alan Berliners of the world (which he obsessively tracks down). A very fun experience, well written by Berliner.

The only gripe is that it dragged in parts as the subject matter never veers.

The director's father is the greatest interviewee, and it's sad to hear that he passed away a month and a half ago. There is however a movie that Berliner completed on his father a few years back which is also recommended entitled Nobody's Business.

Berliner has been touring the country showing this fine piece of work off, and all his movies can also be seen on PBS. He was very genial, and even stopped in the middle of answering questions to say 'Bless You' to those who sneezed or 'Thanks for coming' to people who left.

The one thing that didn't ring true with me however was Berliner's claims to not be a documentarian, as this clearly fits in with such other notables in insight as Ross McElwee and Errol Morris. I guess he's not willing to succumb to genres, but this movie is very reminscent in style of a light-hearted Thin Blue Line. It still comes highly recommended.

And in case you're wondering, this movie floors all of Alain Berliner's combined.

I am so glad that I am not the only person in the world who has given so much thought to my own name. Alan Berliner proves to be even more obsessive than I am. After a number of "Egosurfs," (which is the word given to the act of looking up your own name on the internet,) Alan Berliner found twelve other owners of his name and flew them out to New York for dinner.

Imagine having a party with a dozen of your namesakes! Introductions are easy, and you never forget anyone's name. However, it can make you really start to question your identity. In a room full of people named Alan Berliner, who's who? All of them turn out to be white, middle-class, and middle-aged men.

The bulk of the film is put together with stock footage, man-on-the-street interviews (What does the name Alan bring to mind? One woman's response: Fat!) and old home movies. At the end of the film, Mr. Berliner encourages the viewers to write to him and tell them if they've recognized any of the faces in the stock footage as their own relatives.

This is a pleasant and fun documentary that really makes you think. It is never boring for a minute, and is just as delightful as Sherman's March.