Comment/question

I saw this film last night. I really enjoyed the concept, that was a big selling point to me. However, as a whole, the movie didn't come together for me. It just never hit a critical mass, the scene-flow didn't provide a proper platform of resonance for me, the acting just didn't -- well, I could go on for another thousand words, I suppose, but I'll stop.

Little pun aside, I am glad I saw the movie and, notwithstanding the above criticism, I did get something out of it, some enjoyment -- I know that sounds like a contradiction based on what I just wrote, but I had to mention those criticisms so I could leave no doubt that the movie was far from perfect, and that the concept could have been handled better. Perhaps when I see it again I'll have a different outlook. And one main point: it's too bad they didn't cast someone else for the guru role; while he had the voice-tone down, he didn't use it with enough expression.

So now for my question. We know the rules of the movie: every word equals a leaf. Even if they are written, even if sign language is used. I presume the latter because when he made the profane gesture at the tree, two leaves died, presumably one each for the phrase "f you." Did anyone else find that some of the gesticulating that Murphy did in the film could have qualified as sign language? I could be wrong about this, perhaps every gesture he made was completely non-verbal in nature, but it seemed like the charcter came awfully close a couple of times.