Gondry, by posing as a layman and genuinely trying to understand, asks the most basic questions which Chomsky goes on to address fundamental issues in philosophy and the foundations of modern science. The animations and illustrations merging with the voice of Chomsky in the background makes the loaded philosophical and scientific content accessible to the viewer. References from classical science to Galileo and Newton drive home the essence of science, a true endeavor to move from a description to an explanation about the world. Gondry's honest admissions of losing Chomsky's line of thought, further help in bringing the viewer on to the same page.The film's frank rendition of Chomsky's personal life and academic journey sets the context for the viewer to understand the 'greatest academic alive,' thus making the film more humane and relatable.PS: do watch the film with subtitles; because their accents make it difficult to follow their speech.

Even when they are full of ideas, some filmmakers can be sometimes a bit 'stingy' when they try to film great thinkers. What happens when an image inventor confronts a creator of concepts? There can be many misunderstandings (maybe due to the language barrier?) and theaters can remain painfully empty. Not long ago, in 'Film Socialism', Jean-Luc Godard filmed Alain Badiou talking in front of an empty theater.It seems that Michel Gondry accepts with great pleasure the emptiness that can sometimes separate images and philosophy on the screen. His film plays with the principle of 'illustration': this funny documentary is made of (often) naive drawings, coming from the discussion between the two men.The viewer will not leave the theater with a manual on 'generative grammar' of the American linguist, MIT star. Instead he will be struck, blown away by the creative explosion of a free filmmaker, an inventor renewing at a rate of a thousand digressions and associations of ideas, with its memorial vein and dream, like in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep (his most romantic period). No wonder that the film is secretly haunted by Chomsky's absolute love for his late wife, Carol. Nonetheless, I found this 'little film' immensely refreshing.

As deep as a saucer, Gondry take on the nature of human language is just a giant waste of time, both Chomsky's and ours. Gondry interviews one of the leading authorities on human language and he cannot think of better questions to ask him than "what makes you happy?" or "do you miss your dead wife?".If you're interested in Chomsky works, look somewhere else. If you happen to like Gondry - and want to maintain any respect for him - do yourself a favor and skip this movie.I understand some people appreciate Gondry lavish visual creativity (I usually do, too), but in this movie they cannot compensate for the fact the Gondry has no idea what his own movie is about (since he has no clue what Chomsky is talking about most of the time).

As is usual, this new interview with Noam Chomsky brings out his analysis of current and recent goings-on in the world, focusing on how U.S. might and knowledge has been misused to advance U.S. interests, not always successfully. You'll either agree or disagree, but his extensive reading and his bent for radical inquiry produce some striking eye-openers.The interview also covers Chomsky's views on linguistics and evolutionary biology in terms that will make sense to most lay people.But what's really new in this particular film is that we learn from Chomsky about his upbringing, his family, and his life since the death of his wife in 2008. Coming from the horse's mouth, this is quite an important addition to our understanding of a remarkable life.Accompanying the interview are lighthearted stick-figure cartoons illustrating the points at hand. Probably the filmmaker's idea was, laudably enough, to move away from the talking heads format, but the result is pretty goofy and distracting. The interviewer's thick French accent makes his questions hard to follow, but the DVD comes with English subtitles. Plus, over the course of the interview your ears may get habituated enough to the Frenchman's distortions to make out what he's trying to say. It's a warm, incisive, broad-ranging interview, with lots of new material for even the most dedicated Chomsky devotee.