Schizopolis - Criterion Collection

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Both a kind of home movie and a salute to the hip, pop-up sketch comedy of 1960s-early 1970s television--Laugh-In, Monty Python's Flying Circus, that sort of thing--Schizopolis is a hit-and-miss series of dada gags with vaguely connecting threads of Kafkaesque paranoia. Soderbergh himself stars as two people--one an ineffective dentist, the other a speechwriter for a cult movement called Eventualism, which has set out to "question all answers"--connected by their romances with the same woman, played by Soderbergh's real-life ex, Betsy Bramley. There isn't so much a story as a series of bits in which these characters often (though not necessarily) turn up, from press conferences on the subject of horse urination to old footage of nudists to a scene of an Eventualist exchange between husband and wife: "Generic greeting!" "Generic greeting returned!" None of this leads to a literal point, but after a while an undercurrent of disease about making sense of the modern world becomes apparent beneath the jokes. Soderbergh (sex, lies, and videotape, Out of Sight) is certainly a filmmaker who goes his own way in life, always hitting his target in one spot or another and occasionally getting a bull's-eye for his trouble. Schizopolis is no bull's-eye, and it has just as many detractors as admirers, but it's impossible not to appreciate Soderbergh's conviction that making a film out on the fringes is a worthy endeavor. --Tom Keogh

Description

Fletcher Munson has a doppelgänger in dentist Dr. Jeffrey Korchek. In his only starring performance to date, acclaimed director Steven Soderbergh (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean's Eleven) inhabits both roles: Munson, onanistic corporate drone and speechwriter for New Age guru T. Azimuth Schwitters, and the swinging Korchek, Muzak enthusiast and lover to Munson's disenchanted wife. Meanwhile, mad exterminator and part-time celebrity prima donna Elmo Oxygen seduces local housewives in secret code and plots against Schwitters. Placing the onus squarely on the viewer ("If you don't understand this film, it's your fault and not ours"), writer/director/editor/cameraman Soderbergh presents a deranged comedy of confused identity, doublespeak, and white-knuckled corporate intrigue, confirming his status as one of America's most daring and unpredictable filmmakers.

Customer Reviews:

Soderbergh's best, which isn't saying much..........2007-04-14

I do like parts of this film, which is unusual, as I feel Soderbergh is one of the most overrated filmmakers working today. Here this film has a bit of a free form feel, and it works well in spots, but in others it just falls flat. Soderbergh is not a particularly good actor, and he doesn't have much screen presence. Casting himself was a mistake. Many of Soderbergh's films are remakes (Solaris, Traffic, Ocean's 11), and not very good ones at that. Here he tries to emulate Python and Bunuel, and he has some success, but overall the film is a mess, and a lot of its jokes don't quite cut it.

Misunderstood.......2006-09-12

I'm still not sure what I think about this movie from a purely critical standpoint, but I respect it immensely. I have watched it more times than I care to admit, but in a way it has pulled off. This movie makes you think, and with each viewing you shave off another layer of confusion. I'm still confused about many things, but I can't find any review here that actually understands many aspects of what this movie is. It is a satire that shoots in all directions at all angles. There is satire on small things and large things, and often both in the same scene. For instance, Elmo's character symbolizes the media. Watch the progression of his character and his actions and the effects of them and keep in mind that the assasination attempt at the end is filmed. Look at the little news segments and look for the satire within them. Everything has a place in this movie, and I do find it entertaining to find out what they mean. You can't watch this movie expecting entertainment in the form that is presented in a regular movie. The entertainment here comes from the solving of the puzzle, and finding the reason for the happenings. Rewatch the movie and think of it as a sort of four dimensional jigsaw *snicker* puzzle that ruthlessly assaults all things ingenuine and confusing, whether they be personal or empirical, in this world we live in. Also, once you watch the movie with an understanding of the story revolving around Munster's wife you will find it is actually quite affecting. There is much much more to this story than first meets the eye, especially when you look at the doppelganger thing as not literal and the... mind takeover thingy (I don't know the words for it, but if you have watched the movie you know what I'm talking about)... as a surreal element to progress the story in an unconventional way. Also try to keep track of the space of time these scenes take place really closely.

All closed minded people should steer clear of this movie; you won't find your satisfaction in it. You will probably end up looking in the wrong places. If you don't think you'll enjoy spending time analyzing the various, multi-dimensional, and plentiful intelligent nuggets of satire then please, also stay away because you will find nothing of interest.

Viewing Prerequisites: A Working Knowledge Of Japanese And Dentistry.......2006-06-15

This is far and away the most unique and original movie I have ever seen. There is no close second place. Steven Soderbergh wrote, starred in, and directed this little-known masterpiece, and I am now a loyal fan. The caution on the box perhaps best summarizes the film: "Warning: All attempts at synopsizing the film have ended in failure and hospitalization." This is truth in advertising if I have ever seen it. Think of "Schizopolis" as a narcissistic, paranoid blend of equal parts "Head," "1984," "Monty Python's Flying Circus," and "Unarius."

The film is absolutely impossible to categorize. It occurs in three principal acts, but they are all circular and the plots entangle themselves in the end in an almost Seinfeldesque manner. Steven Soderbergh stars as both Fletcher Munson and Dr. Jeffrey Korchek. Munson is a curiously self-absorbed speechwriter for New Age guru (and founder of "Eventualism") T. Azimuth Schwitters, while Korchek, a dentist with a Muzak fixation dominates act two by having an affair with Munson's disenchanted wife from act one. Throughout all this, local exterminator (and celebrity) Elmo Oxygen uses very unconventional pillow talk to seduce housewives while plotting against Schwitters. Eddie Jemison, noteworthy as "Nameless Numberhead Man," is the perfect comic foil for Munson.

Although you will need to watch this movie several times to even scratch the surface of the nuances it contains, several themes are apparent, most notably the satirical approach to contemporary society which is infused throughout the film in many ways, most notably in the dialogue. When Munson greets his wife after work he says "Generic greeting," to which she replies "Generic greeting returned." Later in the film several other dialogue issues occur with Soderbergh's characters speaking in Japanese, French, and Italian seemingly at random and to great comic effect.

From the outset, this film is highly segmented (much like an episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus") and confrontational. There is even an explicit warning in the beginning which says "If you don't understand this film, it's your fault and not ours." This type of in-your-face humor is very uncommon and I simply loved it. The film is extremely difficult to follow if you are approaching it like a conventional movie with a well developed plot and characters, but if you can deal with the exceptional stream-of-consciousness, non sequitur humor that Soderbergh uses here, "Schizopolis" will become one of your favorites, too.

I highly recommend this film.

Schiz-what-o-lis?.......2005-10-06

Schizopolis isn't at all like any of Soderbergh's other films (Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Out of Sight, the 'Oceans' movies). The story goes that he made it due to his frustration with studio indifference and/or meddling and decided to do something cheap and fun on his own, even starring in it himself. It's his screwy sense of absurdist humor that comes through full-blown on this one. Schizopolis's fractured, non-linear narrative (something Soderbergh did later with The Limey) demands some attention, but from the very first scene, where the director warns you up front that if this movie confuses or disturbs you, it's your fault, not his, you'll be hooked. Or confused and disturbed. I highly recommend it.

Bizarre Offbeat Comedy Satire Confusing - See It Again!.......2005-09-22

This is a low budget film from Steven Soderbergh that uses ingenuity and absurdity and lots of clever satire to keep the viewer off balance and coming back to see the film again to try and "get it." Soderbergh is the writer, director, and lead actor in the film. He plays an office worker who gets called on to write a speech for a self-help guru who is the figurehead of a philosophy called "Eventualism." He also plays (in act 2 of the movie) a libidinous dentist who is having an affair with the wife of the character he plays in act 1. Meanwhile, a deranged guy with a pest control suit and car is staging some daring videos involving acts of sex and violence - and he aims to film his attempt to kill the self help guru in act 3. In act 3 the Soderbergh character is often filmed speaking in foreign languages while other characters speak English and respond as if there's nothing unusual about the foreign speech (French & Italian may come in handy here!). Soderbergh introduces the film in a short sequence at the beginning and at the end he answers questions from a supposed theater audience - except you don't hear the questions. There are a variety of bizarre sequences and non-sequiturs in the film, and it's hard to figure out what the point of it all is.
Then, on the DVD Soderbergh interviews himself in a very amusing satirical "director's commentary" where he speaks as a pretentious, narcissistic "artist" who sees himself at the center of the social and cultural universe. Which may be the point of the characters in the film itself... and even the little news clip interruption where the news show announces some common lady from New Mexico has been appointed to make all decisions and judgments about things in America. So you could say its a scattered comedy tied together by themes of schizophrenia and narcissism. You may either love it or hate it depending upon your view, as you are the center of your own field of perception.

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