Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) poster
1968 · drama

Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One

Directed by William Greaves1h 15m1968
ElsewhereIMDb7.23kRT88%Metacritic71TMDB6.957
  • measured
  • inventive
  • signature
  • intimate
Movie DNA

Neutral, measured, gentle drama, inventive in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

In Manhattan's Central Park, a film crew directed by William Greaves is shooting a screen test with various pairs of actors. It's a confrontation between a couple: he demands to know what's wrong, she challenges his sexual orientation. Cameras shoot the exchange, and another camera records Greaves and his crew. Sometimes we watch the crew discussing this scene, its language, and the process of making a movie. Is there such a thing as natural language? Are all things related to sex? The camera records distractions - a woman rides horseback past them; a garrulous homeless vet who sleeps in the park chats them up. What's the nature of making a movie?

Our read · Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) reads as a neutral, measured, inventive drama entry — gentle in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of Symbiopsychotaxiplasm

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want meta experimental doc of a crew filming a couple's screen test in Central Park.

ends ambiguousit stays with youmeditativegrips by minute 10attention 4/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around

Skip it tonightSkip if self-reflexive 60s avant-garde filmmaking process puts you off.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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