Review of I Like Killing Flies (2004) by Sarah T — 25 Jul 2007

Last week I was at a diner where a group of Russian cabbies at the table behind me celebrated the birthday of a comrade. Gradually getting more and more drunk, the expletives started to fly and heads started to turn. Most of those heads were looking in my direction, wondering if I heard the filth coming from their mouths and if I was about to complain. After about ten minutes and one particularly vulgar statement, one of the cabbies turned to me and apologized. I said it was fine and that I didn't mind. I even secretly wished there were a way I could say - without sounding too bizarre - that I welcomed their ruckus behavior and thought it only added to my night, that I wished there were more people and places like where I was at that very moment. After all, eating pancakes in the middle of the night is hardly a five star experience.

Eating at Shopsin's is that kind of experience, and to add to it, most comes from behind the counter. Kenny Shopsin, erroneously attributed to being - though not without reason - the inspiration for Seinfeld's Soup Nazi, is the kind of guy who compares closing his old restaurant to the first time his son took a shit - yet doing so in a way that makes you realize he is not malicious in his statement but in fact as kind and sincere as one can be.

Though I would've had no problem spending the entire film listening to Shopsin wax philosophic on pancakes and foreign policy or his nihilistic views on customer service, the film is given a boost midway when the event of having to change locations is presented.

Not to dismiss the hundreds of hours that unquestionably went into editing this documentary (a daunting task considering how many Shopsin pearls of wisdom I imagine they had to leave out) this is the kind of documentary where the subject matter is so fascinating they really only needed to start the camera and roll.

Art vs. commerce, truth vs. decency, ethics vs. needs, pancakes vs. waffles. I Like Killing Flies has it all.