Showing the ‘Square’

For more than a year, respected cult film director Robert Downey Sr. (father of actor Robert Downey Jr., who is costarring in the just released "Good Night, and Good Luck") hung around Rittenhouse Square interviewing people from all walks of life and shooting hours of footage, even when the place was empty.

What he got in the end is the impressionistic (a word used in the press kit, but it does fits the bill) and watchable documentary "Rittenhouse Square" that marches very much to the beat of its own drummer.

Downey made an interesting and successful choice in being very much a part of the proceedings. Downey makes a suitable master of ceremonies as he coaxes various truths out of his usually willing subjects. The effect is somewhat of an impromptu talk show right in the middle of Rittenhouse Square. People seem to open up not just because they’re on camera, but also because Downey is so likeable.

One of the film’s highlights is the interplay between the director and precocious 12-year-old violinist Caeli Veronica Smith. When the wind blows away a page in the middle of a piece, Downey valiantly attempts to retrieve it. Smith keeps playing while silently, yet visibly, chastising him until he finally finds the right one. It’s a cute and spontaneous moment.

Smith, who can be heard on NPR’s "From the Top" Saturday afternoons on WRTI, is as much a protagonist of "Rittenhouse Square" as the park itself. She appears throughout the movie, more than any one person and is even shown just walking around, observing.

Observing is something the late Joseph Aezen was often seen doing in the Square, even if his observing usually involved parking himself on his favorite bench while to watch beautiful women go home from work. Of course, Aezen was hardly a lech as we hear tales of the gentle, sophisticated, well read, impeccably dressed man from his companion of 20 years, Elaine Rosomoff. Because Downey uses Aezen’s story as a jumping off point for girl-watching, which is one of Rittenhouse Square’s best-known (if slightly frowned upon) pastimes. The accompanying and by no means scarce shots of attractive women sunbathing or leisurely strolling through the Square cleverly avoid any hint of lewdness they otherwise may have had.

Although the film delights in presenting the many unique characters that grace the Square, it is in the nonverbal moments the film hits its stride. Whether showing an impressive impromptu jam with Smith and cellist Monica McIntyre as the closing credits roll, an eerie early morning cityscape, or a patrol car rousting the last of the early morning riffraff, Downey locates the park’s true essence while reminding us of his power as a filmmaker.

Rittenhouse Square
Not rated
Available on DVD later this year
Three and a half out of four

Recommended Rental

Strut!
Not rated
DVD available at www.strutthemovie.com

From "Rittenhouse Square" producer Max Raab, comes "Strut!" This surprisingly intelligent, boisterous documentary, which Raab also directed, offers up close and personal New Year’s Day footage of the Broad Street strutters interspersed with behind the scenes shots as clubs prepare for the big day.

"Strut!" defies the time-honored belief a magician should never explain his tricks, going backstage to show the buckets of sweat and intricate planning that goes into every club’s routine, regardless of what division the members might be. A must for fans of the Mummers and a pleasant surprise for those who never quite "got" them.