Norman * * *

 Norman is a conscientiously well crafted film.  If it has one fault I’d call it so conscientiously well crafted it could be regarded as self conscious.  

    It is divided into 4 acts, each with their own title. It shows scenes that are ahead of their time and even as it does so it is showing flashbacks to explain how we got there. That might sound annoying but it actually works quite well.

Norman, on the way up

      When we first Meet Norman we can’t be sure if he is a conman or a salesman of shonky investment products.  He hustles.    He is always keen to meet influential people and will go to any lengths to get a foot in the door.  He “invests” in people too.  He befriends a deputy trade minister from Israel who is alone in New York for a conference.  The same man becomes the Prime Minister of Israel and he never forgets Norman.

      In some ways Norman is as mysterious to us as he is to the people who meet him.  We rarely see him without his camel overcoat, scarf and black shoulder bag.   We never see him at home or in his own environment.  It’s like he lives on the street, in foyers or on transport.  He has business cards which he carries in a silver card case.  He is a mixture of brazen effrontery, gall, charm and tactlessness, unashamed and un-bothered by eviction from events to which he was never invited.

Where most would back off from the cold shoulder he keeps talking till he finds the sweet spot and they open up.  His powerful network is nothing more than the outcome of perseverance.

      It takes us quite a while to catch on to what he is actually doing.   It’s like he knows that success is about who you know more than anything else and Norman is quickly building a network.  “Let me introduce you Mal”, “You must meet John”. Because he can open doors for people, doors open for Norman. The trouble with getting to know so many people of course is that people often expect the favour of introduction.  Also, when things go very wrong for one of these powerful people, Norman finds himself connected.
It's an Israeli/ American co-production. I have to wonder if, to some degree, it's a satire on the supposed Jewish connectedness and nepotism in New York.