Finally, an environmental advocacy film for those of us who have the best of intentions but a weakness for Peet’s espressos, takeout dinners and an occasional Marc Jacobs sale, to say nothing of a dependence on toilet paper, television, elevators and that SUV in the driveway.
Wading right into our most basic consumption addictions with an armload of facts and a terrific sense of irony is “No Impact Man,” with filmmakers Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein following activist writer Colin Beavan through a year as he tries to answer the question nagging his guilty liberal soul, “What if I tried not to hurt the environment? Is it possible? Is it comfortable?”
Although the title would suggest this is one man’s journey, it’s about a whole family trying zero on for size.
For Beavan, it’s a sort of grand adventure in 100 percent organic cotton flannels; for his wife, Business Week journalist Michelle Conlin, zero is often a uncomfortable fit.
At the start, Beavan begins to analyze the family’s lifestyle. It’s hard not to be caught up in his enthusiasm as he brings home a box of earthworms to start composting in a corner of their ninth-floor New York apartment, an idea their toddler, Isabelle, embraces with shrieks of delight.
Easier still to relate to is Conlin, squeamish at the sight of the countless glistening red worms as they work their magic, telling Isabelle only somewhat facetiously, “Mom doesn’t really like nature.”
What makes the film so accessible is the yin and yang of Beavan and Conlin, with Conlin providing the voice of reluctance as the realities of turning green theory into concrete reality take hold.
Gabbert and Schein create a kind of easy intimacy as we watch the family adopt an increasingly austere lifestyle.
Beavan and Conlin let us into their struggles. The frigid winter nights with no heat, the morning commute on a motor-less scooter, the toilet paper jokes, the food spoiling in the earthenware cooler that was supposed to replace the fridge.
Some moments play like scenes from a marriage.
In Conlin’s difficult caffeine withdrawal, you realize it’s as much about her frustration with Beavan’s rigid adherence to the project guidelines as her espresso addiction.
In between the visits to organic farms, the disposable-diaper debate and the games of charades that have replaced the TV as entertainment, the film is more practical than profound, a slightly smartened-up “Dummy’s Guide to Green Living.”
It’s also a voyeuristic way to try some of the more demanding changes on for size without any of the pain. Beavan and Conlin take care of that for us.
“NO IMPACT MAN.”
not rated. 1 hour, 33 minutes. Directed by Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein; starring Colin Beavan and Michelle Conlin. Opens today at the Chez Artiste.
