Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes By William Greaves
Resonance DVD review, issue #53, 2007
Baffling yet strangely engaging, the rarely-seen 1968 experimental feature Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One turns the process of moviemaking inside-out and obliquely poses questions about sexuality, race and power along the way. Documentary filmmaker William Greaves assembles a crew in Central Park and divides the cameramen into three groups; one to film a pair of actors performing a short, emotional scene, another to document the first, while the third covers the entire process and any extraneous activity that occurs nearby. The crew, confused by Greaves' intentionally-vague explanations and irritated by the histrionic script (a shrill argument concerning homosexuality and abortion), follows instructions but later stages a passive-aggressive coup in which they film themselves privately debating the validity of their director's plan -- or if there is indeed any real plan at all. Greaves weaves this mutinous footage within shots of actors pondering motivation, cameramen loading magazines, and a loquacious drunk who stumbles out of the bushes for a climactic rant against society. The film was never properly released, although retrospective screenings in the 1990s inspired Steven Soderbergh and Steve Buscemi to sign on as executive producers for a 2003 sequel, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2. It's more of the same, starting off with some unseen footage from the original shoot, then returning to Central Park with three camera crews (this time armed with digital video equipment) to film the same actors playing the same characters thirty years later. Both "Takes" are included on this Criterion double disc, but the new version can't replicate the unique experiment of the first, and even the original is more interesting conceptually than in execution. Still, meta-minded cineasts should check out this adventurous package, which includes an in-depth documentary on Greaves, a pioneering African American artist whose career deserves greater attention. FRED BELDIN
Resonance DVD review, issue #53, 2007
Baffling yet strangely engaging, the rarely-seen 1968 experimental feature Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One turns the process of moviemaking inside-out and obliquely poses questions about sexuality, race and power along the way. Documentary filmmaker William Greaves assembles a crew in Central Park and divides the cameramen into three groups; one to film a pair of actors performing a short, emotional scene, another to document the first, while the third covers the entire process and any extraneous activity that occurs nearby. The crew, confused by Greaves' intentionally-vague explanations and irritated by the histrionic script (a shrill argument concerning homosexuality and abortion), follows instructions but later stages a passive-aggressive coup in which they film themselves privately debating the validity of their director's plan -- or if there is indeed any real plan at all. Greaves weaves this mutinous footage within shots of actors pondering motivation, cameramen loading magazines, and a loquacious drunk who stumbles out of the bushes for a climactic rant against society. The film was never properly released, although retrospective screenings in the 1990s inspired Steven Soderbergh and Steve Buscemi to sign on as executive producers for a 2003 sequel, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take 2 1/2. It's more of the same, starting off with some unseen footage from the original shoot, then returning to Central Park with three camera crews (this time armed with digital video equipment) to film the same actors playing the same characters thirty years later. Both "Takes" are included on this Criterion double disc, but the new version can't replicate the unique experiment of the first, and even the original is more interesting conceptually than in execution. Still, meta-minded cineasts should check out this adventurous package, which includes an in-depth documentary on Greaves, a pioneering African American artist whose career deserves greater attention. FRED BELDIN
posted by fc at 11:33 AM
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