Strong and Moving!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

While my ventriloquism-loving friends either laughed at the crudeness of Jeff Dunham or sang along with Terry Fator, I found myself pursuing the sheer quirkiness that is Nina Conti. Despite having released at least three shows on DVD, being featured in a Christopher Guest film, and being a regular both at comedy shows and in Youtube clips, true fame has eluded Conti, though I'm hopeful that her first solo film project here will give her greater North American recognition. As is her style, Conti uses her documentary to balance spontaneous humor and genuine human emotion for a sometimes-uncomfortable, always-entertaining tribute to her deceased mentor and spiritual center of the piece, theater maverick Ken Campbell.The gist of the "story" here is that Conti, feeling uncertain about her future as a performing ventriloquist and saddened by the death of Campbell, considers abandoning the art but first commits herself to visiting an international ventriloquists' convention in Kentucky. With her, she brings her own puppet (Monkey) along, as well as the puppets willed to her by Campbell - "uniquely bereaved objects" whom she tries to help reclaim their lost voices - one of which will finding a resting place at the Vent Haven museum.As much as I had been hoping to give this film a perfect score, a couple issues keep me from doing so. The first of these is the film's runtime: playing only for a slim sixty minutes, the movie mostly manages to avoid pacing problems until the very end, where its conclusion is inharmoniously rushed after the rest of the picture has been comfortably reflective. My second complaint is more of a personal one: people who don't follow Nina online will probably be immune to this, but fact is that I had already seen half of the movie's most powerful scenes before I had even bought it, as teasers. The episode wherein "Granny" takes a swim and when Nina has a "conversation" with Ken Campbell in puppet form are as simultaneously sweet and unnerving as anything, but there are only two or three other scenes of approximate gravity in the film, making it feel like I've been partially spoiled.Which, of course, is not to say that even the non-knockout scenes of the film aren't fun to watch. Newcomers to Conti's comedy style may do well to catch one or two of her online clips before submerging themselves in this piece, just to get a taste, but by and large it's accessible if only for its intrigue. Not only has Nina got the technical aspects of ventriloquism down pat, but her ability to create a rapport with her characters is second to none: though her material is often deconstructive, it rarely feels like she's only talking to herself, and her puppets are made to feel more aware and imbued with emotion than most others. Humor-wise, documentaries like this may be the best portal for Conti's material: judging by some of the feedback I've read, a few people don't "get" Nina's style, which may have to do with the fact that her comedy lies in how she and a character go about addressing a topic instead of setting up and delivering blatant jokes, and this is a perfect match for this kind of film, for the naturalness of her delivery and the flow of the movie makes it hard to imagine that anything you see was filmed more than once. Because Conti's film is a journey about a comedic ventriloquist and not an exhibition by a comedian who happens to use ventriloquism to get a laugh, the movie feels more like a genuine documentary than a show.Technically, the film is sound in a bare-bones sort of way, with no aesthetics beyond what was filmed but looking presentable nonetheless. The footage shot at the convention provides cameos for a good deal of other ventriloquists, plenty of them obscure but with at least two fairly famous sightings in Jay Johnson and Dan Horn. I wish that some of Nina's new puppets were given more time to expound, but as usual, both she and Monkey remain entertaining as the leading faces. I'm very glad that this film was made and is receiving the distribution that it is, and hope that Conti gets to develop similar projects in the future. This one's definitely worth a look.

What a shame this is not more easily available. In short, I thought this was an astonishing programme. Part tribute to Ken Campbell and part document of Nina Conti's visit to an international ventriloquism conference for a final contemplation of this art-form before giving it up herself (spoiler: she decides to carry on) this documentary riffs on ideas of identity, creativity, grief and regret. Through Conti's relationship with her puppets we are invited to consider our relationship with our own internal monologue and how it often says things which we do not allow to be expressed in conventional ways. In Campbell's words, this voice within us gives expression to what sometimes might be considered "madness" and for ventriloquists provides a legitimate outlet for individualistic expression, the same type of expression that channels our artistry and creativity. This documentary is fascinating, it raises many questions about who we are as individuals, how we present ourselves, what voice or character we choose to put on and what goes unsaid, and is also almost unbearably moving as Conti tackles head on her feelings about her one time mentor and lover Campbell whose unexpected and premature death has driven her on to greater heights within her field almost as a way of somehow keeping him alive. If you get the opportunity, watch this, it really is remarkable television.

I suppose that some ventriloquists and their devoted fans will find fault with this film. (Why does a ventriloquist not want to be a vent any more?; it's like a Hatfield not only being ashamed of being a hillbilly but making a documentary about it; the next family reunion down in the holler is gonna be mighty uncomfortable.) Anyway, the premise of this possibly staged(?) documentary is that Nina Conti is ambivalent about her profession (she is also an actress whose resume includes a few movies and TV series) and about to quit when she learns that her mentor, Ken Campbell, has died. (Everyone but me seems to take seriously the implication that they were lovers, although I take it as distinctly possible that their sexual attraction was never consummated; Freudians will note that Campbell was almost exactly the same age as Nina Conti's father, actor Tom Conti.) I for one do not think that Conti's ventriloquism act stinks, which only added to my puzzlement as to why she would even consider giving it up. (Maybe, as her performance at the Vent Convention suggests, she wants to transcend the traditional limits of what ventriloquism is supposed to be, and that seems a promising direction, judging from her act.)I particularly enjoy Conti's sense of humor, which I found completely disarming. Two examples: Introduced to a half dozen or so figures bequeathed to her by her mentor, Conti gives each of them new names, even though their former owner already named them, and when she simply names the owl figure "Owl," the figure says, "You put a lot of thought into these names, didn't you." Of course that isn't the "figure" speaking, that is the ventriloquist's self-deprecating humor. Later, her performance at a ventriloquism convention begins with her telling her figure, Monkey (she does put a lot of thought into the name thing, doesn't she), that they are standing before a room full of ventriloquists. "No pressure then," says Monkey.One of the things that this film goes into--including in archive footage of Campbell talking about it--is the psychology of ventriloquism. There is also a nice demonstration by Nacho Estrada who deconstructs ventriloquism by removing the traditional figure and bringing in other objects. (I think this is kind of related to where Conti is trying to go with her act.) Most eye-opening for a newcomer to the sociology of ventriloquism is the convention Conti attends. At a rather sterile hotel (Conti finds it depressing), in or near Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky (I'm not sure which, in or near), seemingly hundreds of ventriloquists gather annually and transform the place into a colorful and vibrant community. There is a ventriloquism museum nearby called Vent Haven, where the figures used by past ventriloquists have come to rest. There you will find Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy, the famous figures of the famous ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, father of actress Candace Bergen.I don't know if this rates as a spoiler so I am counting it as one, but I thought it somewhat odd--in view of the fact that the Vent Haven Museum figures are all labeled "Do Not Touch"--that Conti got one of Campbell's figures soaking wet in the hotel swimming pool, then rung it out, then decided that was the one she was going to donate to the museum; can you say doll abuse? She doesn't seem to have done these things with the intention of possibly donating a damaged figure; she was originally going to donate a bulldog figure and penultimately decided not to donate any figure. Finally she changed her mind--or rather, the figure she donated changed her mind. OK, that IS a spoiler.The figure she turned in was a good choice for donation; you realize that when you see the tag placed on the figure by the museum, describing its history.

A bleak attempt of Nina Conti (daughter of actor Tom Conti) to rekindle her career as a ventriloquist.Through her grinned teeth Nina manages to voice several puppets that sound somewhat similar to herself in a confusing, and sometimes muffled, manner. On the premise of mourning the death of a previous and much older lover her obvious contempt towards the art of ventriloquism is clear as she unceremoniously stuffs said lover's puppets into a suitcase and heads to the Vent Haven Convention. It is here she wonders alone, avoiding contact with more talented ventriloquists as she contemplates her future and ponders over what to do with the puppets she "inherited" from her previous lover.This so-called documentary is bland and without much of a point other than to showcase Nina Conti's contempt towards an industry she feels she is trapped in (and Nina replacing a 'p' with a 'k' sounds like a 'k')The only saving grace for this confusing yawn fest is that she apparently gives the only professional ventriloquist dummy in her possession to a young boy at the Vent Haven Convention who no doubt already is more skilled and dedicated than she.