Film
PUPPET MASTER A new documentary, Being Elmo, reveals the story of puppeteer Kevin Clash, the man behind lovable Sesame Street character Elmo. Hannah McGill speaks to director Constance Marks about the enduring love for this cute, red muppet
‘Ibacked into it innocently,’ says Constance Marks of her project to illuminate the man behind the world’s most famous fuzzy red baby monster. While working as a cameraman on Sesame Street, Marks’ husband brought home a personal recorded message from Elmo for the couple’s then two-year-old daughter, a gift from the character’s creator and puppeteer, Kevin Clash. ‘Elmo was looking at pictures of Sophia in a photograph album, talking to her, telling her that he loved her,’ Marks recalls, ‘and she was just enchanted. I fell in love with whoever it was who had done this for us – so the next time my husband worked on the show, a couple of years later, I said, “Please tell him that your wife has a crush on him! And wants to make a documentary about him!”’ They met up within the month. ‘Kevin sketched the trajectory of his life for me, from early childhood,’ says Marks, ‘and saw straight away that this could be something special.’
The resulting film has indeed struck numerous chords, taking the Special Jury Prize at Sundance 2011, storming festivals around the world and hitting the number one documentary slot on iTunes. Marks found herself somewhat taken aback by the feelings stirred by her chosen subject matter.
‘I was 11 when Sesame Street started, and I was in the Far East during that real period of Muppet mania – so I was one of the few people on the team initially immune to the incredible emotional pull of these characters,’ she explains. Elmo, in particular – a late- minted character, maybe too cutesy for fans of the 62 THE LIST 26 Apr–24 May 2012
edgier 70s Muppet, but adored by pre-schoolers – has an almost preternatural appeal. Does Marks have a theory as to why? ‘It’s the colour, the big eyes, the energy – but it’s also the voice,’ she says. ‘Our editor’s fiancé works in a blind school, and Kevin took Elmo to visit there. They couldn’t see Elmo, but as soon as he spoke, they ran towards him, wanting to touch him and hold him.’
Kevin’s own skills, in both puppet-building and performance, kicked in at an early age, and were obsessively honed; Marks’ film depicts an unstinting progression from making his own marionettes out of scraps at home, to gaining access to the hallowed Jim Henson company, to eventually creating one of the stable’s most popular characters. ‘Henson recognised talent and tried to nurture it,’ says Marks, ‘and that’s still a big part of the culture of that company.’ Kevin’s trip wasn’t all plain-sailing – being yoked to a creature that’s worth a merchandising and engenders near-hysteria in children has its lifestyle downsides – but what’s touching about Marks’ film, in an age when documentary usually sniffs out maggoty secrets, is how gently positive it is. ‘I’ve made those films – and now I’m loath to go back to the dark side!’ Marks confesses. For now, at least, the Elmo effect is still strong. ‘I’ve been overwhelmed by the reaction. Grown men, weeping! It’s astonishing to me, and thrilling as well.’ fortune
Being Elmo is on selected release from Fri 27 Apr.
‘HENSON RECOGNISED TALENT AND
TRIED TO NURTURE IT’
PERIOD DRAMA FAUST (15) 140min ●●●●●
Shot in grimy browns and greens, heavy with tangled-up multi- character physical movement and overlapping conversations, Sokurov’s take on the oft- interpreted Faust legend is no pretty pageant. From its opening shot, which closes in from a romantic landscape to the genitals of a corpse being sloppily autopsied, the film insistently foregrounds the yuck factor in its 19th century setting – presumably to emphasise the grossness from which ambitious Dr Faust (Johannes Zeiler) yearns to escape. He’s ambiguously aided in his quest for knowledge and riches by the grotesque Moneylender (Anton Adasinsky) – Mephistopheles in a fitting earthly profession. Sokurov snips the moral
straightforwardness out of the story – this devil barely tempts or seduces, and the rewards Faust seeks are vague, as is the punishment they might yield. That makes for a chaotic, unpredictable, human tale of physical struggle, mental noise and self-doubt, rather than a pious fable. But it also makes for a total lack of narrative momentum. Amid the onslaught of incessant talk, action, pantomime slapstick and carnivalesque gross-out, Faust’s journey feels ill-defined: the hollow centre of an over-detailed milieu. (Hannah McGill) ■ Selected release from Fri 11 May.
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