4 stars out of 5
When my family moved to California when I was a wee lad, I remember people poking gentle fun at the way my Bronx-raised mom spoke. They’d point out her saying “A glass of wawtuh,” instead of waaa-ter, or however they said it way out west. It was my first inkling that people spoke differently in different parts of the country. (Also, one of my dad’s co-workers bought him a 7″ single of “Short People” by Randy Newman as a gag gift, but I’ll save that anecdote for another time.)
Director Heather Quinlan has now brought us a delightful tribute to the various New Yawk accents. We learn quite a lot (There’s an offshoot of the New York dialect in Louisiana? Who knew?? And sign language has its own New York accent? Zoinks!), and experts are interviewed, but the film completely steers clear of being an academic exercise. Rather, it’s highly entertaining, and often very funny. Early on, when we see Electric Company-style silhouettes sounding out words in New Yorkese, I knew this was my type of documentary.
Learning that this was Quinlan’s first film—and a relatively short one at that—I was rather impressed with the star power of the interviews: Penny Marshall, Joe Franklin, Pat Cooper, Pete Hamill, Charlie Rangel, Amy “I directed Fast Times at Ridgemont High” Heckerling, and Alan “Hey Jack, You’re Vanishing” Dershowitz. Heckerling and Dershowitz were both surprisingly charming, and Rangel too; and if you’re talking New York nostalgia, Hamill is money in the bank. We get several “regular folk” in the mix as well, with a Korean guy with a hard Staten Island accent perhaps the most dynamic.
Just like the city it celebrates, If These Knishes Could Talk (spoiler alert, talking-wise: knishes cannot) gives us a little taste of everything. There’s historical perspective, ethno-cultural influences, New York’s shifting financial landscape, as well as the future of the New York accent and even its impact on social media. The movie never gets bogged down in any one topic; there’s always a laugh or smile coming in the next scene.
Check the film’s website to see if it will be screening near you, and a DVD should be available soon via Amazon. I’m going to pick one up for my mom’s birthday, which I feel OK revealing here: In addition to clinging to her New York accent, Mom isn’t super-savvy on the Interweb.
Jack Silbert, curator