"Time Regained" dir by Aroul Ruiz
Based on Proust, this is a pile of period piece boredom, filled with the flower language used in 1922 France. . . filled with a lot of boring people wandering around wondering about things. Reminded me of "Portrait of a Lady" in a way. . . in the way that "Portrait of a Lady" reminded me of "The Awakening" by Chopin. Subersively useless, providing a quasi post-colonial makeover for the oppressive classes of the time.
"I am Curious" dir Vilgot Sjoman
Buddy here was given a massive amount of film as payment, so he made a movie with complete and total freedom. Made in 1967 Sweden, there's a lot of pornography, but in a way that doesn't suture the freudian gaze. The movie floats all over the place, from jump cuts, to political rallies, to documentary style interviews of everyday Swedenfolk, the the director working on the film as the lead actress pesters him to cast a love interest. Very strange, but politically engaging, as well as great acting by Lena Nyman, who plays Lena. This film was seized on entry to the US. Also available is "I am Curious (Blue), which is the same movie but edited differently, or something.
"The Outskirts" dir Petr Lutsik
A crew of fucked up Rural Russian men find out that their land has been sold out from beneath them. They decide to find out who sold them out, so they go through a beaurocratic human-trail of Party related people in the hopes of getting their land back. Filled with a lot of snow, torture, and footage of what rural folk do to stay warm (vodka).
"Schizopolis" dir Steven Soderbergh's
A mixture between "Office Space" and "Church of the Subgenius" (re: Bob Dobbs) "Shizopolis" takes a look at the spiritually damaging office style life. Ocaisiaonally the film itself is manipulated to represent the schizophrenic lifestyle, which makes the unbeliveability of the fact that the star (Soderbergh) plays several characters in the widely scoped community that Soderbergh has created. He plays Munson, "onanistic corporate drone and speechwriter for New Age guru T. Zimuth Schwitters, and of the swinging Korcheck, Muazak enthusiast and lover of Munson's disenchandted wife" (from the back of the DVD case).
I quite enjoy where American films take pomo self-reflexive theories. The ideas that are being expressed don't have the traditionalisms of literary Europe. Instead it's more of a modern look at the Suburbanite who doesn't have any attachements to the past, which lets the narration of the film breathe beyond that of the typical Hollywood narrative, and of the typical novel. What Hollywood has created has allowed others to respond.