FILM REVIEW

Young Chang

Tobias Schneebaum has the best documentary voice -- I’ll give him

that. He talks with a hip sort of flatness, like he is bored to death

with his own words, which makes his sometimes surprising details about

traveling to the jungles of Peru sound that much cooler.

But did he keep his viewer for all of 93 minutes? I wandered, a couple

times.

“Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale,” follows

Schneebaum, a 78-year-old gay, Jewish, New York artist with Parkinson’s

disease as he returns to Asmat and other areas of Peru where he had lived

for seven months about 45 years ago.

Part of him doesn’t want to go back and face the pain of having

engaged in cannibalism with certain tribes -- something he hasn’t really

gotten over. He is sad to think he will have to part from his Peruvian

lover and friend a second time -- a male who had multiple male as well as

female partners, as was the culture in Asmat.

But he does -- he returns to South America from his New York life --

narrating all the way through.

Produced by Peter Broderick and directed by Laurie Gwen and David

Shapiro, the documentary is innovative but, at times, too slow. The

scenery is beautiful, but too much of it is shown. The various interviews

are interesting, but perhaps not all necessary.

* “Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale” will screen

at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Edwards Island 7 Cinemas.