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SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM: TAKE ONE
March 30, 2017  | By David Bianculli

TCM, 1:30 a.m. ET

 

I don’t think I’ve ever seen this experimental 1968 film, directed and (sort of) written by William Greaves, scheduled on television before. But certainly, half a century later, it can be viewed as anticipating both the genre of reality TV and such pretend “documentary” projects as The Office, Modern Family and Waiting for Guffman. (If you’re so inclined, and you can remember it, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One also is the perfect movie title to throw into the hat in a game of charades if your aim is to bring the entire game to a wrenching halt. Another good movie title in this regard: the 1971 Dustin Hoffman comedy Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, which allows you to start off the round by indicating “Movie,” then, to the annoyance of everyone playing the game, “14 words.”) But I digress. Anyway, Symbio dot dot dot is like a peeled onion, or a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll, with several layers going on at once. For his movie, Greaves auditioned a small group of unsuspecting acting students to star in a film, while also filming a documentary about the making of the movie – and, pulling back to an even wider perspective, filming an additional film about the making of both those films, especially as the process begins to fall apart. And now you have a good sense why Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One hasn’t been on TV much. And why, in the same vein, there never was a Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take Two…

 
 
 
 
 
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