Try if you wish, but Judy Berlin can’t be pigeonholed into any particular genre.  From a summary of the script, you might think the film is another searing indictment of suburban life (a la American Beauty).  A glimpse at the cast may have you believing that Berlin is a Broadway play rather than a feature film.  Look at the stills from the black-and-white movie and you may assume that you’re dealing with a quirky art flick.  If you watch a scene or two, you might guess Berlin is Woody Allen’s annual offering.

But it’s not Woody – it’s Eric.  Mendelsohn, that is.  The first-timer from Long Island wrote, directed and edited Berlin after working as an assistant costume designer on a handful of Allen’s pictures, whose influence is unmistakable in Mendelsohn’s writing and directing style.  Mendelsohn picked up the Director’s Award at the 1999 Sundance Festival for Berlin, which also garnered Independent Spirit Award nominations for the stark cinematography (Jeffrey Seckendorf) and the amazing Barbara Barrie (Suddenly Susan).

Berlin is set in Babylon, Long Island during the twenty-four-hour period preceding and following a lengthy solar eclipse that seems to have its way with time.  Thirty-year-old David Gold (Aaron Harnick, Barrie’s real-life son), a former resident, has returned to Babylon via Tinseltown after a failed attempt at a filmmaking career.  The moody and mopey David runs into a former high school crush named Judy Berlin (Edie Falco, The Sopranos) who, ironically, is on her way to California to become an actress.

Two years David’s senior, Judy’s acting experience has been limited to cheesy local commercials and her recurring role as a settler in a nearby historical village.  She tried to write a screenplay but just couldn’t get into plots, characters, or even spelling.  The two spend the day catching up and reliving old childhood memories.

The film takes place on the second day of the school year, and the eclipse has teachers and administrators acting goofy as well.  David’s father Arthur (Bob Dishy, Jungle2Jungle) is the principal and has a thing for one of the instructors (Barrie), who, coincidentally, happens to be Judy’s mother.  Arthur’s wandering eye is almost justifiable – his wife Alice (the late Madeline Kahn, Cosby) is a recovering alcoholic that just won’t shut up.  There is also an ex-teacher with Alzheimer’s that wanders into her old classroom and disrupts the day.

Mendelsohn and the rich black-and-white film stock perfectly capture the surreal feel of the eclipse.  From the opening shot of a train blowing its whistle and signaling the suspension of time, Berlin plays like a dream, with its characters acting in ways that seem to surprise even themselves.  The harpsichord-heavy score from Michael Nichols is reminiscent of Rushmore.  And Berlin’s acting corps, which also counts among its ranks Julie Kavner and Anne Meara, is fantastic.

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