That "red-diaper baby" grows up (somewhat) in the Kornbluth Brothers' LOVE & TAXES

For anyone who enjoyed his earlier monologue, Red Diaper Baby, and/or his office-place comedy Haiku Tunnel, the good news is that Josh Kornbluth is back with another witty, funny, self-deprecating look at himself and his life -- LOVE & TAXES  -- in which it comes out that the poor schmuck has not bothered to file or pay income tax for seven years. (Well, you know these "artist" types....)

The even-better news is that Josh's brother Jacob Kornbluth, shown below, right (with Robert Reich, who has a juicy little role in the film), is also back to direct and take the movie from mere monologue (where it begins) into dramatic reenactment, fantasy and frolic -- with the accent clearly on the latter.

If you've seen Josh's earlier work, you'll have a clearer idea of the unusual family from which he came and how he grew into the fellow he now is. Taken on its own terms, however, Love & Taxes should give you enough of this that you'll follow along mostly gleefully, as our hero (I use that word loosely) tries to come to terms with life, love and paying taxes.

To that end, he must interact with financial accountants, trustworthy and not so (the smartest/scariest of these is brought to fine life in a whip-smart performance by Helen Shumaker, below).

As success of a sort is bestowed upon Josh (the actor/writer is shown below) and his fortune appears to rise, he also discovers groupies (one of which becomes the love of his life, two photos below), Hollywood, the "option," and lots more.

As writer and performer, Josh Kornbluth is pretty much one-of-a-kind -- a chubby, cherubic, Jewish comic with a great gift for self-deprecating humor. He and his movie slowly pull you in and before you know it, you're rooting for the guy hook, line and sinker -- even as his foibles and foolishness keep threatening to derail his life. He is both "Everyman" and a bizarre mixture of "Schmuck" and "Mensch." The combination is endearing and funny.

Director Kornbluth fills his film with very smart visuals that keep the tale bubbling along via some lovely and charming fake backdrops that, while serving the tiny budget well, also add greatly to the movie's endearing qualities. Oddly enough, however -- given the Kornbluth brothers' background as red-diaper babies of a staunchly American Communist family (dad, at least) -- the movie is never even glancingly political.

Love & Taxes comes out four-square for paying your taxes because "what would happen if everybody refused to pay," as we're told at least a couple of times during the course of the film. But it says this without giving a thought to where those taxes go -- into the trough of greedy politicians who resolutely refuse to honor the wishes and/or needs of their constituents but instead do everything for the wealthy, powerful and corporate so that their re-election is thus ensured.

Granted, the movie would be quite another kettle of fish if any of this were acknowledged. Yes, the Kornbluth siblings' early life may have "cured" them of ever wanting to be "political" again. But I wonder what film might have emerged if some real politics were included into this mix of love and laughter and happy ending? The Kornbluths' dad, rather than "flying away," as Josh tells us, might have stuck around and even applauded.

Light, fluffy, tasty and enjoyable (and about as nourishing as Cool Whip), Love & Taxes -- via Abramorama and running a nicely-paced 90 minutes --  opens tomorrow, Friday, March 3, in New York City at the Landmark Sunshine Cinema, and on Friday, March 10, in the L.A. area at Laemmle's Noho 7 and the Art Theater in Long Beach. To see all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters listed, click here.

Streaming tip: Jacob Kornbluth and Robert Reich's important doc, INEQUALITY FOR ALL

Former U.S. Secretary of Labor (for the Clinton administration) Robert Reich is a man on a mission: to raise the consciousness of the American people as to the ever-widening and grossly unhealthy economic gap between the uber-rich and everyone else. Anyone who follows the news these days can hardly be unaware of all the talk about this gap. Yet what is actually consists of, how it happened and why it is so damned important seems to elude far too many of our populace, including many voters, who might -- if they understood things properly -- "throw the bums out."

With the help of filmmaker Jacob Kornbluth (shown at left), Mr. Reich, whose generally fine and important writing and ideas appear regularly as part of the Reader Supported News service, has now given us a very good documentary, INEQUALITY FOR ALL, which first appeared last year at various film festivals and also had a limited theatrical release via TWC/Radius last fall. Because the film is now available via Netflix streaming, there's no reason to miss it -- even if you think you already know everything the movie is going to say.

You may indeed know much of what you'll hear, but I think you'll find the presentation bracing enough to keep you interested, angry and eager to do something about this increasing and unhealthy inequality.

Mr Reich -- a short little man (see his photo with his director, at right) who is happy to explain what his small stature is called in medical circles -- is also a teacher and has been for years. From what we see and hear here, he's a very good one and a popular one, too.

The movie is made up of some of his in-class teaching, interviews with various Americans, charts (below), animation, statistics and archival materials (further below) -- all wrapped around the idea of what the increasing inequality is doing to the middle class and the poor.

America was not always like this, and Reich takes us back to the relatively golden, post WWII years up into the 1970s, when Ronald Reagan and the Republicans put a stop to middle class gains, unions and other things that helped make America a working democracy. Stagnant wages for the employed are every bit as important as obscene earnings, and Reich shows how all this came about, too.

The movie is important and although it's now two years old, it's unfortunately all too current, still. So, take a look, get on board and see what you can do about bringing things back to some kind of fairness, when owners made -- sure -- ten, even twenty, times what their employees earned. But not one hundred times -- or more.

Inequality for All, running 89 minutes, is available now via Netflix streaming, Amazon Instant Video, or on DVD.