Blumenthal (Seth Fisher, 2012): USA

Reviewed by Reyes Munoz. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (2013), Metro 4 Theater.

Seth Fisher’s Blumenthal (2013) is by far one of the funniest, if not the funniest, film I have seen at this year’s film festival. As Fisher himself put it during a Q&A session after the film, “The title of the film is Blumenthal, which revolves around the name of a man not a cigarette packet called Blue Menthol. Although Blue Menthol does sound  like a tasty cigarette. Just one of the many things I didn’t take into consideration when making the film.” Seth Fisher is a funny guy in person and not so much self-absorbed as his character Ethan was on-screen. It was interesting to meet him before and after watching the film since it allowed us to appreciate his acting and directorial skills. It was also interesting to know the reason why he had to cast himself in his own film, as many of us film students have had to do. As it turns out, the crew was having issues acquiring the proper permits to film in certain locations around New York, specifically China Town. Since the permit to shoot a scene where the main character runs through China Town was never acquired, Seth Fisher had to cast himself in that role in order to take full responsibility and any liability issues that could arise. Smart Move! And I say that because as it turns out, he was perfect for the role.

Blumenthal is a comedy film surrounded by family drama after a family member, Harold Blumenthal, dies laughing at his own joke. The plot is a little bit twisted and hard to explain but non the less, it all makes sense towards the end as the film’s conclusion offers a bit of comic relief – literally. As it turns out, when Harold’s younger brother, Saul, finds out about his death, he is left with a lot of unanswered questions and feelings of angst, regret, jealousy, all while he is constipated. Days go by and for some reason Saul still can’t find the courage or strength to… well… crap. Saul’s second wife Cheryl also feels the pain, not literally, of Harold’s death as she was once the starlette of his plays. After constant media coverage, Cheryl begins to feel old as she begins to reminisce the old days when she was a young and talented theater actress. Furthermore, it is up to Saul’s son Ethan to help his father by trying to find the answers to his now impossible to answer questions and offer him closure and in the process give him back the ability to… um… crap again. Seeing the condition that his father is in Ethan decides to put on the shoes of ‘detective’, or better yet the white sneakers of a nurse, and try to investigate and dig up any dirt he can on his now deceased uncle. Things take a turn for the better when Ethan uncovers a woman named Fiona collecting his dead uncle’s mail. After confronting her and getting to know her better, he discovers that she was the actual creative force behind all of his uncle’s plays. In other words, she was a ghost-wrtiter who worked for Harold Blumenthal. Ethan, with his white nurse sneakers, runs to tell his father which offers him the closure he needs and this ultimately result’s in Saul’s ability to… um… crap again.

I really enjoyed this original comedy but I did find it a bit hard to follow at times as I found myself lost in the twisted. If I hadn’t taken notes while viewing this thing I would probably have had a very difficult time writing this review. So here’s my advise to viewers: If you watch this film, play close attention to the plot, don’t blink, and don’t take bathroom breaks because you will get lost. Or if you wait until its DVD release, watch it more than once. Overall, great film and awesome cast.