Film Review - Look Who’s Talking

This is, essentially, an arthouse film played out according to rules rather than a script. While a plot concerning the everyday life of an everyday baby takes shape early on, fortunately it is unsustainable according to the rules laid down by director, Malcolm Rifkind.

The rules are as follows: Whoever is talking, all other actors must direct their gaze towards them. Early on, this is relatively straightforward, but the film hinges on one particular scene about a third of the way through. Until this point all focus has been on dull domestic issues, stiltedly presented in this unusual style. Then, all of a sudden, the baby, played by a huge animatronic Stegasaurus, starts crying. The two other actors in the scene, Uncle Bulgaria from the Wombles as the father and Christopher Walken as the mother, suddenly have to whirl round at each and every sound. Now we see the point of these rules. It is no longer a traditional A to B storyline. It is a game.

Each following scene includes additional actors, any of whom can speak at any moment and when they do everyone else must turn towards them. This climaxes in a hugely populated scene, featuring literally thousands of characters on screen, in which everyone is speaking and spinning round and you are uncertain if anyone is succeeding in following the rules.

The point is anyone’s guess. It could allude to the cacophony of advice that arises at times of crisis and our inability to heed it all, or it could just be a grave error on the part of the director.