Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes by William Greaves (#360)

In his one-of-a-kind fiction/documentary hybrid Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One, the pioneering William Greaves presides over a beleaguered film crew in New York's Central Park, leaving them to try to figure out what kind of movie they're making. A couple enacts a breakup scenario over and over, a documentary crew films a crew filming the crew, locals wander casually into the frame: the project defies easy description. Yet this wildly innovative sixties counterculture landmark remains one of the most tightly focused and insightful movies ever made about making movies, expanded thirty-five years later by it's unconventional follow-up, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take 2½. The "sequel" sees Take One actors Audrey Henningham and Shannon Baker reunited in a more personal, metatheatrical exploration of the effects of the passage of time on technology, the artistic process, and relationships-real and fabricated. DIRECTOR-APPROVED Blu-ray SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES • High-definition digital transfers of both films, with uncompressed monaural soundtracks • Discovering William Greaves, a 2006 documentary on Greaves's career, featuring Greaves, his wife and coproducer Louise Archambault, actor Ruby Dee, filmmaker St. Clair Bourne, and film scholar Scott MacDonald • Interview from 2006 with actor Steve Buscemi • Trailer • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing • PLUS: An essay by critic Amy Taubin and production notes by Greaves for Take One.