#talking mongoose

Our story begins in 1931 on the Isle of Man, a 221-square-mile island under the control of England. For reference, the Isle of Man is one-sixth the size of the state of Rhode Island. A former piano salesman and farmer James T. Irving lived in an area called Cashen Gap with his family. In the walls of their home, they started to hear strange animal noises which were driving them crazy. Irving…

ma'am pls.

And the weirdest film title of the year goes too...

Plot: When famed paranormal psychologist Dr Nandor Fodor investigates a family's claim that a talking mongoose lives in their barn, he uncovers a mysterious web of hidden motives. Soon, everyone becomes a suspect in his relentless pursuit of the truth.

The most fascinating fact about Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose aside from its title is that it is based on a true story. Gef was an allegedly talking mongoose that was claimed to inhabit a farmhouse owned by the Irving family. The Irvings' farm was located at Cashen's Gap near the hamlet of Dalby on the Isle of Man. The tabloid press in Britain gave the story extensive coverage in the early 1930s. The Irvings' claims gained the attention of parapsychologists and ghost hunters, such as Harry Price, Hereward Carrington, and Nandor Fodor. Some investigators of the era and contemporary critics have concluded that the phenomenon was a hoax that the Irving family perpetuated by using ventriloquism. Amusingly enough the Irving family in the film are very open about the fact that the daughter is a talented ventriloquist.

The film itself comes off as strangely peculiar. Director Adam Sigal is evidently trying to create a tone of eeriness and mystery, and though there is that constant question throughout if the talking mongoose is real or a fraudulent manifestation, there's almost that sense of why should we care. The dialogue is heavily clunky, aside from the very delightful few scenes in the pub between Simon Pegg (trying his best at a Hungarian accent to questionable results) and Christopher Lloyd, with them talking about the mongoose, spirituality, fraud and at one point Harry Houdini. I found it strangely comforting seeing Lloyd still on top of his game at his age, and Pegg too is enjoyable when allowed to simply go with the flow. However aside from those moments, the script is poor, and as this is very much a talker of a film, there are so many interminably dull stretches of dialogue and conversation. The comedy also hardly lands, with again the key word being peculiar, with the movie attempting humor through strange happenstances, yet aside from the primary Rikki-tikki-tavi (voiced by Neil Gaiman of all folks), those shenanigans are not that interesting nor amusing. Shame, as the cast seems to be really trying, yet the plot seems more befitting for a short film or possibly a little documentary or TV special rather than a full feature length.

The entire movie is in this constant state of meandering as if its characters are stuck in this constant loop of doing nothing. Maybe that is it - the film is saying that life is so boring that people end up finding fascination and obsession over the smallest and silliest of things, like a myth about a mongoose that is able to talk. If so, then that's just sad, and now I am sad. So thank you Nandor Fodor for making me sad. That is exactly what I need when I come back from a long day at work and want to watch a casual movie on Prime. Silly mongoose.

Overall score: 4/10

Gef’s Story

His story began in 1931. The Irving family lived in a remote farmhouse called Doarlish Cashen (or Cashen’s Gap) on the Isle of Man, a small isle in the Irish Sea.

There were three of them: James Irving, the father; Margaret, his wife; and their 13-year-old daughter, Voirrey Irving. They lived an ordinary life as a poor farming family, miles removed from the nearest town. But on one strange day, their lives changed forever.

In September of 1931, the family began to notice a persistent scratching behind the wooden walls of their farmhouse. It was an eerie rustling, followed by barking and spitting, that could have belonged to a ferret or some other wild creature. This continued for a while, until something extraordinary happened: a mongoose revealed itself, small and furry and yellow.

And it began to speak.

Skittish and often dashing through the farmhouse, the mongoose revealed to James Irving that it was from India. It was frequently hunted there, and afraid of being trapped, and somehow found its way to the Isle of Man.

The family took to calling it Gef (pronounced Jeff), which it seemed to like, and opened their lives to this curious creature.

Gef, as time went on, would spout one-liners and bits of wisdom, much to the bemusement of his listeners. He wasn’t always cordial, though; he could be brash and aggressive. He’d swear and toss objects. But other times he’d help out around the house, hunt rabbits for dinner, and sing songs.