This movie really allows us to see the unobscured joys of life through Philly, a 70 year old mentally retarded man and cousin of director Ira Wohl. You really need to have seen "Best Boy" as a prerequisite, but I'm so glad I saw this follow up. Congratulations to Ira Wohl for capturing his family so well and for stepping in to make his cousin's life as good as it can be. I really feel like I know his family, I don't know if it's a Jewish thing or just a universal dynamic, but I certainly recognized all the characters. I hope Philly is still around in another 20 years, and if not, he will have lived a very full life anyway.
3 Reviews
Not as powerful as Best Boy but...
oodus34716 January 2003
Everyone who has seen Best Boy should see Best Man. It's interesting to see how Philly has aged in 20 years! However, this documentary lacks the emotional punch of Best Boy. I feel Ira Wohl simply made it because, as he mentions at the start of the film, so many people asked him how Philly was doing. Which is not a bad thing, but it clearly shows. Philly is alive and well in the film, and he is 72 (I think). He lives in a nice group home in New York. With his parents long gone, his sister Fran (who is now the age her mother was in Best Boy!) takes care of him the most.
Ira decides to give Philly a Bar Mitzvah, which is kind of the main premise of the movie. You see Philly fly on an airplane to California, you see him make his own coffee with ease, and, which I think is the best scene in the whole film, he talks about his departed mother. Although he giggles when talking in front of the camera, he finally sighs and goes, "Oooh, I miss her..."
Although Best Man is not as good as Best Boy, every fan of Philly should see it.
Ira decides to give Philly a Bar Mitzvah, which is kind of the main premise of the movie. You see Philly fly on an airplane to California, you see him make his own coffee with ease, and, which I think is the best scene in the whole film, he talks about his departed mother. Although he giggles when talking in front of the camera, he finally sighs and goes, "Oooh, I miss her..."
Although Best Man is not as good as Best Boy, every fan of Philly should see it.
Philip Wohl at 70
take2docs16 February 2024
Warning: Spoilers
A few notable changes have occurred in the life of Philip Wohl since the last time we saw him on film. For starters, Mr, Wohl has supposedly only aged a mere two years in the span of a couple decades. If you recall, he once tried to convince us of his being 16, and now here he says he's 18, or so according to our beloved and nominal mathematician. In reality, Philip has aged about twenty years and as he appears in this, is now into his seventies.
In his seventies, and still a childless bachelor. Granted, I'm not sure whether Philly would even know how to go about procreating, but it would've been nice to see him by now settled down with a wife and family of his own.
BEST MAN is the follow-up to filmmaker Ira Wohl's phenomenal 1979 documentary film, "Best Boy," which first introduced us to his infantile cousin, the lovable 'Philly' Wohl.
Sadly, since we last saw Mr. Wohl, both his mommy and daddy have passed away. Nonetheless, the film's hero has managed to make it in the world to the best of his ability, and whereas others in his situation might have found themselves in an orphanage, Philly, we now find living, and quite contentedly so, in a group home, alongside like-minded individuals. No doubt mama would be proud.
Philly's sister, Frances, is featured more predominately in this film than in the last one, in effect taking over the parental role and her next of kin under her wing, and a memorable and heartbreaking moment has brother and sister visiting the gravesite of their late parents.
Philly still doesn't have to work in order to survive, although he doesn't necessarily like to remain idle, either. In fact, when he's not out discoing, or at the synagogue, or aboard an airplane, traveling to the west coast to visit Ira, he can be found back at the group home, washing dishes. It is something he very much enjoys doing.
As seen together, "Best Boy" and BEST MAN make for a fascinating viewing experience, on par, in my opinion, with director Michael Apted's longitudinal and existentially profound "Up" series. (R. I. P., Mr. Apted.)
That human life is short and so very precious is something which these one-of-a-kind documentary films help to impress upon the minds of their viewers. I wonder whether Philly ever stops to reflect upon his past, the loss of his parents, and does he even possess the mental capacity to conceive of a future beyond tomorrow?
Here's a man, no, make that a super-man, quite at peace with himself, who seems happy just being alive and living in the moment. If we are to be like children, I think the late Philip Wohl, mental deficiency aside, was a near perfect example of what that means.
That Philly has something to teach the rest of us grown-ups is what makes him so special and such a delight to watch.
In his seventies, and still a childless bachelor. Granted, I'm not sure whether Philly would even know how to go about procreating, but it would've been nice to see him by now settled down with a wife and family of his own.
BEST MAN is the follow-up to filmmaker Ira Wohl's phenomenal 1979 documentary film, "Best Boy," which first introduced us to his infantile cousin, the lovable 'Philly' Wohl.
Sadly, since we last saw Mr. Wohl, both his mommy and daddy have passed away. Nonetheless, the film's hero has managed to make it in the world to the best of his ability, and whereas others in his situation might have found themselves in an orphanage, Philly, we now find living, and quite contentedly so, in a group home, alongside like-minded individuals. No doubt mama would be proud.
Philly's sister, Frances, is featured more predominately in this film than in the last one, in effect taking over the parental role and her next of kin under her wing, and a memorable and heartbreaking moment has brother and sister visiting the gravesite of their late parents.
Philly still doesn't have to work in order to survive, although he doesn't necessarily like to remain idle, either. In fact, when he's not out discoing, or at the synagogue, or aboard an airplane, traveling to the west coast to visit Ira, he can be found back at the group home, washing dishes. It is something he very much enjoys doing.
As seen together, "Best Boy" and BEST MAN make for a fascinating viewing experience, on par, in my opinion, with director Michael Apted's longitudinal and existentially profound "Up" series. (R. I. P., Mr. Apted.)
That human life is short and so very precious is something which these one-of-a-kind documentary films help to impress upon the minds of their viewers. I wonder whether Philly ever stops to reflect upon his past, the loss of his parents, and does he even possess the mental capacity to conceive of a future beyond tomorrow?
Here's a man, no, make that a super-man, quite at peace with himself, who seems happy just being alive and living in the moment. If we are to be like children, I think the late Philip Wohl, mental deficiency aside, was a near perfect example of what that means.
That Philly has something to teach the rest of us grown-ups is what makes him so special and such a delight to watch.
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