Steven Soderbergh’s Schizopolis (1996)

Schizopolis is bizarre but it
is a very artistic comedy worth viewing. This 1996 experimental comedy by
writer/director Steven Soderbergh tells many plots but the main ones in the
entire flick are: the first one which is about Fletcher Munson (played by
Soderbergh) an office employee who is currently working for Theodore Azimuth
Schwitters, leader of self- help philosophy/religion; the second one is about
Dr. Jeffrey Korchek a dentist who seems to be having an affair with Munson’s
wife; and the third and last one is about Elmo Oxygen a local exterminator who
has sex with most of his clients, including Schwitters’s wife, and at the end
of the movie it can be seen that he tries to kill Schwitters.

This 1996 picture is highly
imaginative, philosophical, goofy, fresh, creative and very unexpected. But
even though the flick brings all of this to the table the audience may have a
hard time understanding what the heck is going on in the entire feature.
However it seems that the film was a deep investigation of Soderbergh’s artistic
influences and views. The things that kept me distracted a bit throughout the
movie were the cinematography and sound which were a bit off. Also the vast
variety of sub-plots can be a bit troubling if one is trying to concentrate on
the three main stories that are going within the picture. Overall the feature
is a good film but it can be a bit difficult to understand.

Rating:
3 stars out of 5.