Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes by William Greaves

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes by William Greaves

Directed by William Greaves • 1968 • United States
Starring William Greaves, Patricia Ree Gilbert, Don Fellows

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 its 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.

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Two Takes by William Greaves
  • Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take One

    Directed by William Greaves • 1968 • United States
    Starring William Greaves, Patricia Ree Gilbert, Don Fellows

    In his one-of-a-kind fiction/documentary hybrid SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM TAKE ONE, director William Greaves presides over a beleaguered film crew in New York’s Central Park, leaving them t...

Extras

  • Symbiopsychotaxiplasm Take 2 1/2

  • Justin Simien on SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM

  • Discovering William Greaves

    A producer, director, writer, editor, cameraman, actor, dancer, drama teacher, and songwriter, William Greaves has been hailed as an American Renaissance man. In this new program, Greaves, documentary filmmaker St. Clair Bourne, actress Ruby Dee, wife and producting partner Louise Archambault, an...

  • Steve Buscemi on SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM

    Acclaimed actor and director Steve Buscemi first saw SYMBIOPSYCHOTAXIPLASM TAKE ONE at the Sundance Film Festival, in 1992, and he was so taken with it and director William Greaves that he pledged his support to the film and any sequels. In this new interview, recorded in New York in 2006, Buscem...