SCHIZOPOLIS - 1996
Written and Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Starring Steven Soderbergh.
How had I never heard of this film before? Why didn't I watch it every other day after high school?
A paranoid office worker finds his own life paralleled by an ordinary dentist, with whom his wife happens to have an affair. The plot unfolds around a popular new philosophy, Eventualism, and its conceiver. That doesn't sound half as circular and twisted as it is, but that's because I left out a lot. I don't want to ruin anything... Like the exterminator that uses the free word association of Eventualism to fuck housewives. See?
This masturbatory creation from Soderbergh is definitely for people who enjoy wacky movies, and movies in general. You have to want to see new narratives, let go your linear desires, and USE your own imagination during the viewing. Soderbergh achieved something mysterious too. Sometimes there are scenes in movies that are unbearably annoying. And then I think, Oh, the director WANTS me to feel annoyed, oh. Right away I usually think, But I am seriously annoyed, and I despise this stupid director and this movie. So, in Schizopolis, you feel annoyed, yet you forgive Soderbergh and the film. That is a really difficult thing to do. Then again, I love movies, and this movie was made for me. Schizopolis is not for the typical movie-goer. You must think to get the jokes.
I thought it was brilliant- hilarious, a great metaphor for this week's new philosophy, clever, and actually very well acted. The end of the second act dragged its feet, but it was worth it in the end. I will probably have to see it again, and again, as Soderbergh initially suggests. I wish more of his films were this true, this dedicated. Full Frontal was one of the worst dog shit films ever made and I can't believe I stayed in the theater. You have redeemed yourself, Mr. Soderbergh!! I will add this to my list of Movies I Tell People to See. And he's right, it IS your own fault if you don't get it, look alive!
