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Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey
Constance Marks and
Philip Shane (USA, Special Presentations)
Friday, May 6, 7:15 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West)
Saturday, May 7, 7:15 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West)
Sunday, May 8, 4:30 p.m.
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West)
Those going to see Being Elmo in hopes of catching a feature-length profile of the cuddly red creature may be disappointed: the star of the film is Kevin Clash, the man behind the muppet.
As it turns out, he’s pretty cuddly, too.
The story of Clash’s rise from a Sesame Street–loving child in working class Baltimore to an inspired puppeteer working under the likes of Jim Henson and Captain Kangaroo plays out as a series of well-deserved good turns coming to someone absurdly talented and passionate.
Like Elmo himself, the film’s feel-good message is unflappable: Clash’s story seems to run along seemingly without any, well, clashes. The one bend in the unerringly positive narrative that goes largely unaddressed is Clash’s home life as an adult. We learn that he is divorced before knowing he was ever married; we witness the moments surrounding his daughter’s birth, and the next we hear of her, she’s a teenager emailing her absent father begging him to spend more time with her. It seems—though we can’t say for sure—that there is a workaholic-with-a-broken-family story lurking behind this film that goes all but untouched.
Though not especially complex or challenging, Being Elmo is a sweet, watchable film that offers interesting insight into the workings of puppetry. Clash, like Elmo, is someone you just want to root for, and it’s pretty heart-warming to see such a good guy succeed. Someone at the screening may have even teared up once or twice. We’re not saying it was us.