THE INVENTION OF DR. NAKAMATS (Kaspar Astrup Schröder, Denmark). 57 minutes. Subtitled. Saturday (May 1), 4:15 pm, Isabel Bader Wednesday (May 5), 1:45 pm, Isabel Bader. Rating: NNNN
I smiled through every minute of this documentary about Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu, an eccentric, stone-faced Japa nese inventor who holds more than 3,000 patents for things like floppy disks, engines that run on water and a mysterious female sex aid called the “Love Jet.”
Danish director Kaspar Astrup Schröder grasps how unusual his subject is, showing us the man photographing each meal (something he’s done for 34 years) and swimming and taking notes underwater to capture his ideas. Dr. NakaMats, as he’s also known, can be egomaniacal and gruff. The suspense leading up to his 80th birthday is about whether a hotel will rename a room after him.
But it’s hard not to like and admire the man who’s got a mother fixation and seriously believes he’ll live to 144.[rssbreak]