an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I thought this was going to be about the music played by the New York Philharmonic during its unprecedented trip to North Korea in 2007 but it was so much more than that.Here is a chance to gain some insights into one of the world's most cut-off societies. You'll see robotic traffic cops moving in intersections where cars are rare, a city where at night not even one light is visible, and where battalions of soldiers might be glimpsed goose-stepping over a bridge.There is candid commentary from conductor Lorin Maazel and members of the orchestra who had to give up their cell phones upon arrival and were not allowed to do so simple a thing as take a jog unsupervised.What amounts to a highly unusual travelogue is marred by lack of explanation as to why this unusual invitation was made or where it came from. Though he probably had to approve it, the North Koreans' Beloved Leader is ubiquitous in cult-of-personality paintings but never seen on camera. A little puzzling but well worth viewing.