Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more

 

Zizek! (2005)

Director: Astra Taylor

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

This is the second documentary in a year on the cultural critic, humanistic psychoanalyst and, since the death of Jacques Derrida, best new candidate for global ‘rock star’ philosopher, Slavoj Zizek. Not as entertaining, nor as substantial, as Zizek’s recent meditation on Hitchcock, Lynch, et al, ‘The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema’, Astra Taylor’s tome manages to follow the bear-like, lisping, sibilant-rich Slovenian on his international speaking tour, at his publisher (Verso), at lunch, in bed (without pyjamas!) and at home in Ljubljana playing soldiers with his son without, seemingly, once interrupting his continuous logorrheic torrent of talk, insights, ideas, aphorisms, jokes and exclamations. Philosophically, it may be cursory and superficial – understandably, Taylor goes light on the neo-Marxist hermeneutics and post-Structuralist Lacanism – but it does give some idea of Zizek’s polymathic intellectual range, infectious enthusiasm and combatorial (super)egotism. Still, it’s hard to distinguish the intellectual from the clown. Take his quoted three favourites movies – ‘Ivan the Terrible’, ‘The Fountainhead’ and anti-semite Vert Harlan’s Nazi-era ‘Opfergang’. Is he serious? Or being patronisingly provocative?

Author: Wally Hammond

Time Out London Issue 1915: April 25-May 1 2007


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Astra Taylor

Producer: Lawrence Konner

Genre(s): Documentaries

Duration: 72 mins




Features

Do overs!

Do overs!

After Race to Witch Mountain, what should Disney remake next?

Gray's anatomy

James Gray wants to push buttons—again.

The next big thing?

Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.

Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema

So you think you can dance, comrade?

Puppet master

Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.

Socratic method

Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.

Wander woman

Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.

Oscars

Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.