Schizopolis (1996)

I am glad that Soderbergh is making films, even if every other one is a glossy mess. Like many filmmakers, he lives in and loves the medium. Unlike most of them, he experiments in film with things that matter — and he does it while pretending it is a joke.

This will be seen by many as a bizarre hoax, a vanity project, a sandbox. But I think not; I receive it as a small, complex personal project. His marriage was falling apart. He was baffled by matters of duality: simultaneous understanding and confusion. So he made a film featuring himself and his already ex-wife. In it, time faces itself; everyone has dual lives among which they shift.

You'll only get part of what is going on the first time around, but this rewards multiple viewings.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Fmovies: I watched this movie for the first time a couple of months ago. I had to watch it twice because I didn't get the way everything fit together in the plot the first time. My impression at first was that this was a really funny satire of certain aspects of American (or just modern) society: People turning to self-help gurus for solutions to their problems, political conspiracy theories, the blandness of working in an office, the strangeness of dentists, the meaninglessness of everyday conversation/communication rituals such as "How are you?". In these first two viewings, I laughed frequently at the way Soderberg was poking fun at modern life. Really funny to me is Soderberg's low-key sarcastic tone. I definitely have shared similar feelings to him in my everday life. In addition, I enjoyed the cut-up style connected disjointedness of the film's plot.

But then I watched the film a third time with a friend and he laughed maybe one time during the whole movie. And after the movie ended, he told me he just didn't "get" some of the things Soderberg was trying to satirze. This made me reconsider the film, so I watched it a forth time and in doing so, I just found it more cyncial and not as funny. "Tiresome" is a word that comes to mind. Perhaps this film just plays better if one is in a cynical mood. Regardless, there are still several quotes from Schizopolis that I have incorporated into my daily life so that I can become a better person in a T. Azimuth Switters type of way:

"Be true to your teeth and they won't be false to you."

"I am Republican when it comes to most issues, but I'm a Democrat when it comes to gum control."

"Generic greeting!" "Generic greeting returned!"

"I really enjoy having sex with your wife. She's got a great ass."

"When I married her, she was like a blimp. But now she just keeps getting thinner and thinner. It's terrible."

"Dear Attractive Woman #2...I would love to have you standing near me, or beside me, or on top of me so I could watch you shake."

Overall, I think this film is well worth a watch. Even on repeated viewings, it delivers some humorous goods.

Soderbergh apparently worked on this movie with a video camera and several friends. The movie was an effort on Soderbergh's part to return to the most basic elements of film making, without the big budget, big lights, and big names. He succeeded ten times over. I've seen the movie many, many times and it only gets better. Its humor is at times subtle and at others out-right raucous. Each time through you'll be certain to notice something new and amusing that you'd missed before. Fantastic!

Schizopolis fmovies. Well, it's different, that's for sure.

I took this movie out on video because I was in the mood for something different, and on that front it certainly fulfilled my expectations. On the other hand, I was also after something entertaining, and on that front it - unfortunately - didn't, except in fragments.

The film starts with Steven Soderbergh blowing a metaphorical rasberry at the audience, standing in front of the movie screen advising (not an exact quote, just a paraphrase) - "This is the most important movie you will ever see. If you do not understand it, the fault is yours, not ours, and you should see it again and again until you do understand it, and at full price too."

It then follows a small cast of characters (some of whom can't act... or maybe that's the point?) in a series of intersecting stories... though if you can articulate the plotlines you're a better person that I! There's some sort of satire on Scientology, though as I know almost nothing about that particular cult/religion the allusions unfortunately pass me by. I guess, though, that John Travolta is unlikely to make a movie with Soderbergh anytime soon.

I did enjoy a few bits, particularly when Soderbergh is playing with the conventions of film making (like deliberately having the boom mike "accidentally" drop into shot). Favourite among these is when he has his characters talking in a kind of meta dialogue, a cinematic shorthand which comes across like the actors are reading off the film's treatment rather than script. Ie, instead of saying things like "Hi Honey, I'm home. How are the kids?" they say something along the lines of "Banal greeting to wife. Obligatory inquiry after offspring."

Unfortunately these moments are too few. This would have made an interesting short subject, but at over an hour and a half it really didn't sustain my interest.

Guess I'm a traditionalist at heart.

If big star Hollywood movies are your favorites, this might not be for you. You should give it a chance, though. It's very fun.

Schizopolis is an incredible treatise on communication and perception in a cinematic form. Supposedly, Soderberg made this movie as a way of cleansing his pallet.

(As pallet cleansing or writer's block bypassing projects go, it ranks up with the Coen brothers hitting a writer's block around the third act of Miller's Crossing, putting the project on hold and writing the screenplay for Barton Fink, a movie about an author with writer's block.)

Our concepts and perception of reality, especially about communication, seems to be the main playing ground for this movie. Schizopolis is an experimental project, yet flaunts its three act structure. The movie can give you new ways to think about daily life and reality, without resorting to sci-fi religious hogwash, which the movie also lampoons perfectly.

The movie has no credits, if that says anything. The movie's title is shown on a T-shirt worn by an otherwise naked man being chased. And that's just the start.

Stream-of-consciousness conception, sharp writing and creative technique. There's plenty here to amuse any smart audience, but the parts add up to an (intentionally) oblique whole. The film is so playful and irrespective of convention, it's as if Soderbergh threw up his hands and said 'Screw it, I can't make the movies they want me to." Take it with his work since and you've got the most supple, witty and consistent filmmaker working in the U.S. today.

There's lots to analyze, and myriad connections to be made. But don't try to make too much sense of it... let it take you, and enjoy.