Coming to NYC’s Tribeca Film Institute Summer Documentary series at Nitehawk Cinema tomorrow, Wednesday, July 22: VERY SEMI-SERIOUS
Leah Wolchok’s love letter to the cartoons of The New Yorker had its world premiere at Tribeca this Spring. Other festival appearances include San Francisco, Seattle, Montclair, AFI Docs, and the upcoming Traverse City.
Taking a microscopic view of the venerable publication through its popular, though sometimes headscratching – single-panel cartoons, Wolchok takes as her primary subject, sometimes to its detriment, the magazine’s longtime cartoon editor Bob Mankoff. Since he took the reins in 1997, he has invited cartoonists into his office once a week to pitch their gags, often reviewing close to 1000 pieces to find the fifteen he needs for every issue. These brief meetings, and the reflections by both Mankoff and both veteran and newbie artists about the process, offer the best in Wolchok’s film, encapsulating that moment when the viewer either gets the joke or doesn’t, and offering a direct look at Mankoff’s editorial instincts. The film also wisely revisits a greatest hits of the magazine’s cartoon history, briefly profiling a range of popular published artists in addition to aspiring ones. Where Wolchok falters is in placing too much of a focus on Mankoff outside of his editorial role. Sequences recounting his personal life and grief over the loss of a son simply do not belong in the context of this film, no matter how much Wolchok tries to justify them through a consideration of the role of comedy set against tragic occurrences, such as September 11 or the Charlie Hebdo attacks. Similarly out of place is the unnecessary and frankly boring look at Mankoff’s memoir, another instance of losing sight of the film’s more compelling actual subject – the cartoons.
what (not) to doc 