C+

A meandering movie about meandering people, Eric Mendelsohn’s
debut feature has many of the virtues and defects of a typical
promising student film. It’s got loads of atmosphere, moments
of real magic and insight, nifty black-and-white cinematography,
and some rich roles for good actors attracted by the script’s
quirky sensibility. But it’s also too self-consciously artsy
and slowly paced, so that by the end it’s come to seem more
affected than affecting.

A ruminative tale of suburban angst set on the second day of
the school year in a Long Island town portentiously named
Babylon, the plot focuses on the interlocking stories of five
characters. The three oldsters are dithering school principal
Bob Dishy, his oddball wife Madeline Kahn, and a brittle
teacher (Barbara Barrie) attracted to Dishy (as he is to her).
The two youngsters are Dishy and Kahn’s son David (Aaron
Harnick), an apparent Hollywood prodigy who’s fled home from
the coast in emotional crisis, and Barrie’s wacky, loquacious
daughter Judy (Edie Falco), a would-be thespian who’s just
about to leave to try her luck in California. Over the course
of the day, which just happens to coincide with a solar eclipse
(providing the necessary mood of mystery and surrealism), the
five interact, revealing in the process their hopes, fears
and desperations. A few other figures float ghostlike into the
narrative, most notably an elderly ex-teacher (Bette Henritze)
suffering from the first stages of Alzheimer’s. The film ends
on a note of uncertainty, with characters unable fully to
connect, but with a hint of reconciliation.

One can see why such pros as Dishy, Kahn, Barrie and Henritze
were attracted to Mendelsohn’s script: it provides them with
meaty dialogue and ample opportunity to shine in individual
moments. Falco and Harnick, too, impress as they walk about
the shadowy streets discussing their memories, experiences and
future plans. But ultimately the picture proves little more
than a cinematic exercise, atmospheric and skillful but offering
only a few stray insights rather than any major revelations.
One can appreciate its even-tempered, even sweet nature (after
all, it might have turned into a mean-spirited satire of lives
in Babylon); and it’s certainly nice to see the late Kahn in
a final role that provided her with memorable moments within an
overall context of quiet resignation. But while there are
many fine elements here, as a whole “Judy Berlin” ends up as a
rather precious bit of whimsy, too slight to linger in the mind
much longer than its brief running-time.