08/02/06 Schizopolis

Schizopolis (1996), directed by Steven Soderbergh

watched w/ Leslie (partially); VHS (personal copy) @ home

Soderbergh does it all here...trying to become the modern day Orson Welles of independent cinema by writing, directing and starring (in dual roles) in this spastic experimental comedy. Posing itself as a contemporary surrealist comedic force with tons of subliminal and blatant socio-religious commentary splattered on the screen, Soderbergh keeps the mood light and zany by never allowing himself to be taken too seriously or spend too much time in one frame of mind. Although, that can also be the downfall to the movie and the statements (I guess) that it's trying to make. Some of the funnier parts happen at the very beginning and end, where Soderbergh (as himself I believe) stands atop a lonely stage with a lonely microphone to announce the grand presentation of his mind-warp masterpiece about to unfold...playing to the egos of Hollywood and its stalwarts. The movie proceeds to follow two parallel/segmented lives of Soderbergh as both Fletcher Munson (a lethargic & passive-agressive desk jockey in an eerily Tony Robbins-esque motivational self-help guru conglomerate called Eventualism), and doppelganger Dr. Jeffrey Korchek (a mild-mannered yuppity-wealthy adulterous dentist). Munson is thrust into a high pressure situation when his boss dies, leaving him in charge of writing the speeches for self-help figurehead T. Azimuth Schwitters (great name)...and on the side his lovely wife (who also has dual roles) has an affair with his doppelganger. Oh yeah, and there's this sub-theme that makes no sense...and shows no intention to, by providing us with a psychotic exterminator named Elmo Oxygen. Elmo basically plays the role of a maniac "Loverboy" (think Patrick Dempsey on acid & wearing welding goggles), seducing the local horny housewives and babbling in gibberish language...nose army baby diaper landmine mayonnaise jigsaw anyone?! Plus, the unhappy home lives of Soderbergh's characters and their wives leads to many apathetic and obligatory conversations of everyday life...but in French, German and Japanese. Yeah, it doesn't make sense...yet it's insanity provides a bit of hilarity before it ends. It attempts to explain (or at least show us examples) how monotonous and inane society, conversation, media, and commerce can sometimes be. Look to the title of the film for the merging of two overwhelming realistic facts, schizophrenia and metropolis...both of which can eat you alive if you let it.

3 out of 5 stars