Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

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Simon T Chaotic documentary about the filming of a chaotic low budget experimental semi-improvised dialogue in Central Park. Imagine Frederick Wiseman had shot This is Spinal Tap: this is completely different. Many of the crew seem to be intelligently aware of the shortcomings of the project, but their director's ego seems to convince them to hang in there. For some reason there's a part two. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/09/24 Full Review Audience Member This incomparably unique hybrid documentary deconstructs the filmmaking process, layer by layer and to the nth degree, while creating drama and discord through subtle nudges and overt orchestrations by director/puppetmaster William Greaves. I'd ask anyone to name a film that provides a similar experience (aside from Take 2.5 which I will now be seeking out as well) as I found this to be such a one-off and so incredibly refreshing once I had a better idea of what was going on. 8.5/10 TLDR: Cameras filming cameras, filming cameras, filming screen tests. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review dave s Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One is an odd little experimental film, a documentary of a documentary of a film shoot in New York's Central Park. Filmmaker William Greaves seems to knowingly torment his crew and actors with ineptitude and a general lack of guidance, resulting in frustration and bewilderment from his unwitting victims. Playing a bit like an episode of Candid Camera, it's an entertaining look at the potential mayhem of a film shoot, reminiscent of Truffaut's Day for Night or Fellini's 8 ½. It's sort of fun to watch once you figure out the angle that Greaves is taking, but the last five minutes or so seems out of place. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Though successful within the film industry as a maker of films about the black experience, Greaves was creatively restless. In-between other, more concrete gigs, he would quietly break off to go shoot portions of the first Symbiopsychotaxiplasm experiment. This was him indulging an itch unscratched in his documentary career; to create an intellectually challenging piece about philosophical ideas and behavioral observations. In that sense, the film succeeds, though in these post-post-postmodern times, the film-within-a-film-within-a-film-within-a-film concept is unable to pack the heady wallop it once did. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member If on some fundamental level great art is characteristically "about" or is an exploration of or perhaps simply takes up its particular artistic nature and creative frame as a subject or concern in its own right, then this acephalic and ouroboric documentary about a documentary exploring a documentary is great great great art. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member The genius of this film is that you couldn't tell if it was genius or just a load of bullshit Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/18/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

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