HERBERT

Review by Idiosyncratic Fallout (March 25, 2006)
A rare Indian movie in that rarest of genre.. the genre of the
absurd. Cinema where real people and situations are juxtaposed with
the mystical and the whacky to form a dizzying flurry of sound and
images that is at once other-worldly and yet right-next-door. Think
of the wicked bizzare satirical humor and middle-class melancholy
of "Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron" mashed up with the flamboyant images,
verbal lash, downright whackiness and surprising mysticism of Kiran
nagarkar's great Indian novel "Ravan and Edie" and you get the
wonder that is "Herbert".
A little bizzare epic, the movie chronicles and critiques society
from pre-Independence to Independence, the Communist wave, the
turbulence of the emergency, to the globalization of the country by
following protagonist "Herbert" from birth to adolescense to when he
becomes a "medium" to his premature death. Think of it like a Forest
Gump if Gump was a manic-depressive, sad, lonely, scrawny eccentric
instead of a cloyingly cute congenital dumbass.
And while the movie intends to be metaphorical, it avoids keeping
the audience at a distance by showing some real heart in scenes
between "Herbert" and his aunt and his romantic interlude with the
girl next door and the death of his friend and nephew. The scene
where a drunked Herbert comments on the sadness of the world is
exceptionally heart-wrenching. A moment of beautiful fragile
melancholy.
The only flaw is that the movie drags fifteen minutes too long and
sometimes gets too clever for it's own good. But hey.. better
a "smartass" than a "dumbfuck"
Visually and thematically audacious, literate, incisive, layered,
angry, vibrant.. "Herbert" is a rare gem in Indian Cinema.
In the words of herbert- "Cat, Bat, Water, Dog, Fish".. it may not
always make sense, but in that chaos lies it's true meaning.
I cannot imagine I'll be seeing a better film this year.
"Herbert" is a classic.